On the Rocks
by EWhiteOwl18
Summary: It all started with a Joker on the rocks. Nagihiko Fujisaki, a bartender jaded towards humanity, and Amu Hinamori, a dancer who can't dance and was left by her true love because of it. Will this girl break through Nagi's indifference towards people? And what will happen when her "love" returns? They were brought together by their pasts, but will their futures tear them apart?
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, chapter one! Just a warning, I'm used to writing Amuto so if Nagi is a little out of character, it's because I'm used to writing Ikuto as the main love interest. XP So... To the story, I guess! And disclaimer for the rest of the story: I don't own Shugo Chara or any of the characters in it, and Nini Hearts (awesome person) is the one who gave me a lot of ideas for this story, so she was a huge help as well. This one is for her! Hope you all like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 1**

_It all started with a Joker on the rocks..._

Nagi wasn't expecting anything special. It was just another night at the bar where he worked. There was nothing exceedingly special about that night.

Until she walked in.

Nagi was alone. He didn't have anyone he truly loved. Sure, he had friends that he would see every once in a while. But the vast majority of the time he was at work or at his apartment. And working in a bar sort of made you lose hope in humanity after a while.

So when the girl sat at the bar, he didn't give her another thought. It was just another person. What difference did it make? "What can I get you?" Nagi asked politely.

The girl mumbled, "A Joker. On the rocks."

Nagi glanced at her and hesitated. She was a small girl. He was probably a head taller than her. **(Yes, I know he's only a few inches taller than her in the anime, but they're adults now, so I figure he's probably a lot taller than her now) **And the Joker is a hard drink. To say the least, it's not the sort of drink you can have multiple of without needing a trip to the hospital. He doubted she could handle it. But he made it for her anyways. That's what she wanted. And it was just another girl. Why should he care?

Nagi handed her the tall drink. She didn't hesitate before downing half of it. Nagi blinked, surprised. It was then that he noticed the look in her eyes. She looked like she'd been crying for hours before she'd come here. Her eyes were full of sorrow and held no hope in them whatsoever. Her pink hair was messy and unkempt, like she'd been constantly running her hands through it or she had been laying down for awhile. When the alcohol hit her system, she turned red and seemed to try to hold back tears again.

"Um... Miss..." Nagi paused. She didn't answer. He tried again. "Are you okay, ma'am?" He was working, so he couldn't forget his manners.

The girl's response surprised him, although it shouldn't have. He'd said so himself; the drink was too hard for someone of her weight class. "No, I'm definitely _not _alright!"

Nagi withheld a sigh. She was drunk. But for some reason, he asked her, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The girl looked into Nagi's eyes. She seemed to see something in them because moments later she started with her story.

"I'm actually a dancer. I particularly love ballet." Nagi nodded. Now that he looked at her, she did have a frame suited for that. "Dancing is my life. I've always wanted to be a famous dancer and to perform on stage. And I finally got there. Last year, someone offered me a job. So needless to say I took it. And not long after I actually started dancing on stage, my boyfriend introduced himself to me. His name is Tadase. And we started going out. And everything was perfect.

"But a week ago I hurt myself while dancing. I went to the doctor and he told me that I broke my ankle. He said it would heal but... But..." The girl couldn't seem to hold back her tears anymore. "But I could never dance again."

Nagi watched her sympathetically. He'd done some dancing himself when he was younger, but it centered mostly in the Japanese traditional form. He did some other kinds, but he'd always loved Japanese the most. He could understand how awful it would be to be told that you couldn't dance anymore. Nagi had stopped of his own free will; but to be told that he couldn't? That would've killed him.

Just like it was killing her now.

Nagi was about to tell her as much when she continued. "But that's not all. I told Tadase about it because I was really upset. I wanted him to comfort me. I thought that he could help me through it. But then... He told me that he wanted to break up with me. And then he said... He said that he'd only been in it for my dancing. For the fame. And if I couldn't dance anymore, then what was the point?" Amu laughed coldly. "He told me that to my face."

Nagi raised his eyebrows. He didn't even know this Tadase but he was still appalled at the man. How could someone do something like that?! "That's horrible," Nagi whispered.

Amu hummed in the back of her throat. "You think so too? I'm glad it's not just me overreacting."

Nagi was silent for a moment. "You know, it'll be okay. As cheesy and corny as that sounds, it'll all turn out well in the end. Life has a way of fixing these things." Then he stopped. Why was he trying to comfort her?

The girl looked up at him with something akin to hope in her eyes. "D... Do you really think so?"

That look she gave him melted Nagi's heart. "Yeah, I think so. It's not the end of the world. Everything will turn out okay."

The girl watched him for a few seconds before looking down at the drink. She looked like she was about to drink more.

Before she could bring the cup to her lips, Nagi took it from her and poured it down the drain. The girl stared at him, surprised and confused. He turned back around with a cup of water. "Drink that. I think the Joker's a little bit too strong for you." He paused before adding, "Don't worry about paying. I'll take care of it."

The girl replied in a slurred voice, "Th... Thanks..."

Nagi smiled at her gently. "It's no problem."

She blinked a few times, not taking her eyes off of him. Then she reached over the counter. "My name is Amu."

Nagi took her extended hand and shook it. "Nagi."

"Hey, bartender! Can we get another two beers over here?"

Nagi released Amu's hand and called, "I'll be over in a minute!" He turned back to Amu. "Nice meeting you." Then he turned and began to tend the bar again.

The next time he looked at her seat, she was gone.

**Done! ... I'm not sure how good that turned out. I don't think I did real good with that. XP But I promise it'll get better! I've always been bad with first chapters, cuz I try to think of a way to have a good beginning without giving everything away. So... What do you think? Review, follow. I'm not even gonna ask for faves because I don't think it's worth a fave at this point. XP XP XP But I hope you liked it! I promise it'll get better!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two! Sorry it took so long to update! This story isn't as natural to write for me as most of my stories are. So the updates and language are a little rocky. (me: lol oh, the bad puns. Layla, Ivory, and Lena: ... Layla: Stop talking before you sound like an even bigger idiot.) Um... yeah. That's pretty much it. XP Hope you like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 2**

The rest of the night after the pink-haired girl left was the same as every other night; drunks walking in and out the door, having to call taxis for just about everyone who left, people constantly being rude to Nagi. And he took it, just like he did every night.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the next bartender showed up. Sometimes he would just abandon his shift and Nagi would have to work double. If it weren't for the fact that no one else would ever dare to take this job, the guy probably would've been fired long ago.

Nagi clocked out at three in the morning. He didn't get home till four. But that's what it was like every night. The bar was on the complete opposite side of town. It took him an hour to get to and from it every time.

As soon as he got home, Nagi cooked himself dinner. He'd been told that he was a good chef before, but he never really tasted the food. It was the last thing on his mind. He took a quick shower and dropped into his bed. He was asleep within minutes.

It was the same routine as every other night of his life.

But that night he dreamed of dancers gliding across a stage.

And a pinkette in the crowd who looked like she wanted nothing more than to be up there with them.

* * *

The next night, Nagi headed back to the bar after a day of complete emptiness. All he'd done was listen to music and try-and fail-to stop thinking about the pinkette. But he couldn't help it. She was... Different, somehow. Different from every other person he'd ever met. Although working where he did, he hadn't ever met any outstanding citizens.

"Hey, bartender!" The purple-headed man glanced over at a drunk man who looked like he'd been taking steroids since he was five. "Whaddya doin'? My glass is empty! Aren't ya gonna fix that?"

Nagi sighed, irritated, but didn't talk back. "I apologize. I'll be over right away." He spoke almost too-formally, but he doubted the man noticed.

The door to the bar opened again, but Nagi didn't bother looking. It was probably just another drunk, as usual. He quickly mixed the man's drink and put it on the counter in front of him. "Here you go, sir."

The large man stared dumbly down at the tall glass before picking it up angrily. "What the hell is this?!"

Nagi raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem, sir?"

"This ain't what I got!" Nagi refrained from pointing out that the drink was exactly what he'd gotten-a Gin Sour-and that he was an idiot to think that Nagi wouldn't notice.

"Is that so?" the bartender asked politely. "Then could you refresh my memory?"

The man practically snarled. Nagi noticed that his teeth were filed. "Yeah. I got a Budweiser."

Nagi closed his eyes. A Budweiser would've come in a bottle, and he'd had a glass in front of him. "Sir, are you sure? I thought that you asked for a-"

"Are you callin' me a liar?!" He didn't even allow Nagi a chance to answer him. "I'm gonna beat your face in, you sonofa-"

"Hey." A feminine voice interrupted the man's threat. Nagi and the drunken man turned to see a small girl with pink hair and her hands on her hips. "He gave you a drink, so accept it."

Nagi stared at the girl in shock. He hadn't expected her-Amu, he believed-to come back at all. And yet here she was confronting a giant who was drunk off his butt. _Is she insane?!_

"Oh yeah? And what if I don't?"

Amu's eyes wandered around the room. "Well, I'm fairly certain that there's a reason you're drinking here rather than somewhere else. Looking at you, I'm guessing that you've done something that could put you in jail for a long time."

The way the man winced showed that she had hit the nail on the head.

"It wouldn't be that hard to put you away, considering I know your name, Mr. Akuto Kurosaki." Before he could challenge her about how she knew, she raised up a card. Nagi was surprised to find that it was his driver's license. "A nice pickpocket took this from you while you were arguing with the bartender. He thought it would be a good idea to give it to me."

Akuto bared his teeth at Amu. Deciding that it wasn't worth the risk, he threw money on the counter to pay for the drinks. "This isn't over."

And he stormed out of the bar.

Nagi stared at Amu, shocked. She looked perfectly calm as she faced the man down, as if he couldn't snap her in half like a toothpick. She slipped into a bar stool and smiled at Nagi. He shook his surprise off and walked over to her.

"You do realize that he's going to rip your head off, right?" He didn't understand why he cared, but it didn't really matter.

Amu's grin held an undertone of mischief. "If I didn't think I could handle myself, why do you think I came to this bar in the first place?"

Nagi sighed. "You better hope that he's not as tough as he looks, because otherwise you aren't going to live for much longer."

She shrugged. "I'll be fine. I'm actually pretty good at Tae Kwon Do, believe it or not."

The bartender shook his head and remembered he was at work. "Well, what can I get you?"

"Just some water please."

He raised an eyebrow-why did she come to a bar just to order a glass of water?-but gave it to her anyways. He began to polish the black granite counter. "So did you come here just to have some water?"

She smiled. "Not quite. I want to get to know you better."

He glanced up at her. "Any particular reason why?"

She leaned on the bar. "Just curious as to why a nice guy like you is working here."

He shrugged and looked back down at the counter. "I wanted to be a bartender. So here I am."

"You know what I mean. Why this bar in particular?"

Yes, he knew what she meant. Why was he working at a bar that only the worst kind of people came to? The bar that people would come to only when they didn't want to be found by anyone that they might know? The bar that only crazy people would work at? "Because I'm actually clinically insane and they needed someone who was crazy enough to take on the clients when they go too far."

Amu stared at him for a moment before laughing quietly. "Be serious."

"How do you know I'm not? Maybe I actually have multiple personalities and one of them's nice and the other one's a violent psychopath."

She laughed again. Nagi smiled. For some reason, her laugh made him feel... Warm, somehow. "They're the only bar that would accept me. I know how to make more drinks than I don't, and I'm pretty good at it, but I never got a degree of any kind. So the other bars wouldn't hire me, since they actually had bartenders with degrees applying. Nobody in their right mind would come work here, so they hired me due to lack of applicants."

Amu cocked her head to the side. "Did you really want to be a bartender that badly?"

Nagi's face suddenly went cold. "I'd rather not say."

The pinkette was shocked at his sudden change in attitude and leaned back a little bit. "O... Okay."

Nagi felt slightly guilty for snapping at her like that, but he brushed the feeling off. It was none of her business. She was just a random girl, after all; why he'd even told her that much to begin with, he didn't know.

Amu was silent for a moment before nodding. "Okay, sure. Whatever you want."

Nagi glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Why are you so curious anyways?"

She opened her mouth to answer but suddenly, another deep voice yelled, "Hey, bartender! Another round over here!"

Nagi sighed. "Coming, sir." He fixed the drinks and passed them out.

And when he looked back to the girl's stool, just like the night before, she was gone.

**UGH, SO BAD. Sorry it took so long to update! Like I said, this story doesn't come as naturally to me, so it takes me longer to write, and it doesn't always come out very well. But what do you think? Good, bad, horrible, awesome? Review, fave, and follow, please! I'm sorry for such a short update after so long!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AL;OGQ3JRNG;FOQ3IRGVFQ'3P4OVGNQ'3ORJFGNQ3;POG3QJ4OGI;3Q J I'M SO SORRYYYYYYYYYYy! I am a horrible person, I know. School has just been mean to me this year and I've been freaking out and simply fanfiction as a whole completely slipped my mind. I'M SO SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! I promise, I'll update as many chapters as I can over the next few weeks!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 3**

After Amu scared Akuto Kurosaki off, he didn't come back for a few nights. Meanwhile, Amu was coming every night, but she never ordered a drink. Just water.

Nagi called her out on it one night. "You know, Tae Kwon Do or not, I don't think you should come here every night like this. It's still not safe. Besides, don't you have anything better to do than come here every night?"

She shrugged, almost as if to say, _What can I say? _"I guess I'm just out looking for trouble."

Nagi's eyes scanned the room quickly as he wiped down the black granite bar again, just like he always did when he wasn't busy. "I still can't believe you approached Kurosaki like that. He's twice-no, probably three times your size. He could snap you like a twig."

Once again, the pinkette shrugged like it was no big deal. "I doubt that was a real concern. I mean, did you see the look on his face? Personally, I think he just talks tough. I don't think he would actually hurt me."

_I wouldn't be so sure. _Neither of them said anything for a moment. Nagi was the first to speak. "In all seriousness, though. Why do you keep coming back here? Don't you have anything better to do than just come to a dangerous bar just to order water?"

Amu stared at the ceiling thoughtfully, placing her index finger on her lower lip. "Anything better to do...? I guess not. I mean, I am looking for a new job, but it doesn't do me any good to sit around and day and all night searching the Internet and newspaper for something that I can do and do well."

Nagi turned his eyes down to the bar. "What about your friends?"

Amu didn't respond for a moment. When Nagi looked up at her, he was surprised to see her look... Awkward? "My friends and I... We don't really do much with each other. More like we call once in awhile and talk over the phone. For the most part I don't go out with them. Honestly, Tadase-" Her voice trembled over the name and once again he felt that inexplicable surge of anger. "-was the one who I spent most of my time with."

The silence between them was filled with tension. Nagi tried to come up with something to say. "Well, it's their loss. Honestly, if I were one of them, I'd never stop bothering you."

There was a weird look in her eyes when he said that, but he brushed it off.

"By the way, you didn't answer the first part of my question. Why do you keep coming back?"

Amu smiled a little. "To be honest... I've taken quite an interest in the bartender here."

Nagi was taken so off-guard by the comment that he barely noticed Amu stand up and walk away, calling over her shoulder, "Goodbye, Nagi! Talk to you later!"

* * *

Two hours later, at midnight, Nagi was still tending the bar. Apparently this was one of those nights where the other bartender decided to ditch his shift. So now he was stuck here until four in the morning, when the bar would close.

Nagi's mind kept drifting back to Amu. _"I've taken quite an interest in the bartender here..." _For some reason, Nagi's heart pounded at the words. He was so lost in that one little sentence that he almost didn't notice when he came in.

Akuto Kurosaki.

Nagi slowly continued to mix a drink that someone had asked for-well, more like demanded, but it didn't really matter. Akuto took a seat at the bar and called out, "Hey! Give me a Blue Moon!"

The purple-headed man finished the one he was currently working on and replied, "Sure."

Over a period of twenty minutes, three other men sat down on the chairs next to him. They gathered around Akuto and began having a whispered conversation. Nagi glanced at them from the corner of his eye but didn't bother listening. It didn't really matter what they were talking about.

Suddenly, Akuto called out, "Bartender! Get me a refill!"

Nagi immediately went over to take his glass and mix a new Blue Moon.

And then he heard what they were talking about.

"I don't know if we should do this, man," one of the men said. "I mean, we could get in some serious trouble for this. We're already walking the line as it is. With our records, if we get caught doing this, who knows what would happen to us?"

Akuto scoffed. "Yeah right. Who's gonna catch us? Besides, there's four of us. If someone does see us, it won't take much to subdue them. As far as keeping them quiet goes..." He grinned. "We can figure something out."

The same man replied, "But she said she knows Tae Kwon Do. What if she's telling the truth? Isn't that dangerous?"

Nagi froze. _Tae Kwon Do. There's no way._

Akuto glared at the man. "There are four of us. We are grown men, not to mention that we all know what we're doing when it comes to making people suffer. She's just a tiny girl. There ain't nobody who's gonna get in our way, and martial arts or not, she can't defend herself against all four of us."

Nagi calmly began mixing Akuto's drink.

"So how are we gonna do it?" one of the men said. He was grinning viciously and had greasy black hair that made Nagi think of a crow. "Are we just gonna ambush her in the parking lot?"

Nagi's grip tightened on the glass.

"No. We're going to wait for her. Then we're gonna follow her out the door and wait till she's somewhere dark and abandoned-'cause there seems to be a lot of those places around here."

Nagi carefully placed the bottle onto the counter, nervous he would smash it if he didn't.

"We'll scare her a little first. Knock some things over, make some noise."

Nagi poured the liquid from the glass into a shaker.

"We'll wait until she's good and rattled. I want her to be absolutely terrified."

Nagi shook the metal container, the alcohol sloshing around inside.

"And when she's finally scared enough, and she turns her back to us, about to run away, we'll attack her. Beat her in every way we can think of."

Nagi poured the thoroughly mixed drink into the glass again.

"But how will we know when she's coming here?"

Nagi picked up the glass and began walking over to the group of men.

"She comes here almost every night. God only knows why."

_"I've taken quite an interest in the bartender here."_

Nagi slammed the glass down in front of Akuto, making him and the other three men jump. He gave Akuto a sickeningly sweet smile. "One _Hangman's Blood_, sir." The unspoken threat hung on the name of the drink.

Akuto had turned pale as a sheet. "U-um... I ordered a Blue Moon..."

"Is that so? My apologies. I'll have to fix this right away." Nagi picked up the drink and walked over to the sink. He made a point to hold Akuto's eyes as he slowly poured it down the drain.

As soon as Nagi returned the proper drink to Akuto, he downed the alcohol, throwing money on the bar and quickly walking out of the bar. Nagi's eyes watched him the whole time.

When he was out the door, Nagi clenched his fist. "Amu," he whispered.

**I AM SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON I KNOW, I'M SORRYYYYYYYYYY! Because I have been so horrible, I am going to try my hardest to get up the next chapter before the year ends. Actually, I'll try to get as many chapters as I can up before the week is over. **

**Just a warning, this story probably isn't gonna be very long. Probably ten to fifteen chapters, give or take some. Please review, fave, and/or follow (even though I don't deserve it)!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, I've been an awful updater so I'm trying my hardest to update as many chapters as I can while I'm off school. I promise I'm not usually this bad, it's just that school is really stupid and mean. Okay, so here we go. Lol I'm actually kinda looking forward to this chapter. XP XP XP Hope you like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 4**

_I can't believe it._

Nagi stared in angry surprise at Akuto, who was sitting at the far end of the bar.

_I can't believe that he has the _gall _to show up here. _He wouldn't be so upset about it if it weren't for one problem.

Amu was sitting in front of him with her usual glass of water, talking to him about something that he wasn't actually hearing. His eyes were stuck on Akuto.

Once again Akuto was with the three other men, but this time they were all shamelessly watching Amu, not even trying to hide their gazes. Amu, of course, was completely oblivious to this; her attention was entirely on Nagi. They were having a mumbled conversation, but it was so quiet that Nagi couldn't hear what they were talking about. Undoubtedly they were up to no good.

"... Nagi?" Amu's voice saying his name broke through his haze.

Blinking rapidly, Nagi glanced back at Amu. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice heavy with worry. "You look a little out of it."

Nagi shook his head. "No, I'm fine." _You're the one who's in trouble right now. _Nagi spared one more glance at the four men staring at Amu before turning back to her. "What were we talking about?"

Amu's expression still displayed her worry, but she began slowly speaking anyways. "I was asking how your day was going. If anything interesting happened that's different from usual."

Nagi opened his mouth to reply that no, nothing was really different. It was going pretty well-as well as his days ever went. But then he heard a crash to his right. He whirled his head in the direction of the noise and his eyes narrowed. "Well, something interesting just happened now."

A man who was obviously drunk had all but thrown his glass mug of beer onto the ground, the cup shattering into a million pieces. He was yelling incoherently about God knows what. As much as he hated to leave Amu alone with Akuto and his friends so close, he had to break up the fight that was coming on.

The drunk man stood from his chair and slammed his hands on the table before him. He yelled something else incomprehensibly, but the other man seemed to understand.

"_What _was that, you punk?! You wanna tell me that again?!" He jumped up from his seat and slammed his own hands on the table. Nagi noticed that he was a full head taller than the drunk.

"Suuuuurrrrr...," the drunk man slurred. "Ya... Ye... Sinefebiche... Yer gunna... Imma... Ing gunna keel ya!" He stumble around to the other side of the table.

Unsurprisingly, the sober man seemed completed unaffected by his threat. "Yeah, right! You can hardly walk! I could knock you on your butt faster than you could react, you drunk!"

The drunk yelled wordlessly as he pulled back his fist, preparing to knock the taller man out and-

Nagi grabbed the drunk man's fist and brought it to a halt. A chill ran down the drunk man's back when he saw Nagi's terrifyingly sweet expression. "Hello, sirs," the purple-headed man said. "May I ask what exactly you're doing?"

The taller man swallowed hard-something about that smile was absolutely terrifying-and replied, "He keeps accusing me of everything! He all but threw his beer on the ground and accused me of knocking it over, he lost his wallet and accused me of stealing it, he even bit his lip and accused me of doing something to cause it. Didn't even give a reason! And then..."

Nagi could hardly keep from rolling his eyes. "Sirs, I'm sorry to be so blunt, but if you insist on fighting I'll have to ask that you take it outside. I don't very much care for people starting brawls in the bar."

The sober man all but growled at him before saying, "Whatever. I'm leaving. The drinks weren't that good anyways."

Even though he knew that it was only an attempt to hide his embarrassment, Nagi couldn't help but let the words get to him. He knew that it wasn't true, but the words struck a nerve.

The taller man stormed out the door, mumbling things like, "Stupid drunk," and "such a priss," as he went. The drunk stumbled after him, and whether or not he planned to continue the fight Nagi didn't know, nor did he care. He began walking back to the bar.

"Tonight?"

The one word was quiet, almost inaudible, but he somehow managed to pick it out of all the other sounds in the bar. He glanced at Akuto and his three accomplices from the corner of his eye. The three men stared at Akuto as if awaiting an answer.

Akuto grinned maliciously. "Tonight."

From the look on his face, Nagi doubted that they were going to play mini golf after they left.

He made the decision without even thinking about it. He ran into Akuto, almost knocking him off his stool. He turned around as if to start yelling at Nagi, but as soon as he saw Nagi, Akuto paled. "Um..."

"I'm sorry," Nagi said. "I didn't mean to do that. Are you okay?"

"Um... Yeah. I'm fine." Nagi grinned at Akuto before walking away.

Amu's eyes were wide as the purple-headed man walked back to her. "Nagi! Are you okay?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her worry, since it was completely unnecessary, but smiled at her anyways. "Yeah, I'm fine. There was never anything to worry about though. Only one person's ever thrown a punch at me."

Amu tilted her head curiously. "What happened?"

Nagi grinned at her mischievously. "Let's just say I haven't seen him around here for awhile."

Amu was silent for a moment before covering her mouth and letting out a "pfft!" sound. "I shouldn't find that funny, but..." She giggled behind her hand.

Amu shook her head. "Well, it's getting kinda late so I should probably leave. See you later!"

Nagi smiled. "Bye."

She stood from her stool and began walking out the door. Akuto and his henchmen were quick to follow.

"Excuse me, sir!"

Akuto glared back at Nagi. "What?"

But Nagi just smiled back at him. "You still haven't paid for your drinks."

Akuto grumbled impatiently and reached into his pocket. He froze in place and stared down at his pocket with wide eyes. He shoved his hand deeper into it as if expecting something different than what he'd found.

"No, no, no...," he whispered in alarm. "It's not there! My wallet's not there!"

"Is there a problem, sir?" Akuto glanced up at Nagi. "You owe twenty three dollars and fifty cents."

"Look, give me twenty minutes and I'll be back to pay. I just need to... Find some money. I'll come back and pay, just give me twenty minutes."

Nagi shook his head. "Sorry, sir, but I can't let you leave the bar until you've paid. You're going to have to find some other way to pay. Or find your wallet."

Akuto glanced at the door and then back at Nagi before letting out something between a sigh and a groan and rubbed his face. "Fine. I'll find my wallet." Then, he added under his breath, "I'll take care of her later."

As he started the search for his lost wallet, Nagi thought to himself, _Not if I have anything to say about it._

* * *

The next night, Akuto had come back to search for his still lost wallet. As Amu watched him practically turn the entire bar upside down, she asked, "He still hasn't found it? How long was he here yesterday?"

Nagi was watching Akuto out of the corner of his eye. "Well, when I left at two in the morning he was still here looking."

Amu bit her lip. "You don't think someone stole it, do you?"

Nagi shook his head slowly. "No, I don't think." Amu nodded once. Then he added, "I know."

Amu stared at him, eyes wide. "What?"

Glancing around to make sure nobody was watching him, Nagi slid his hand into his back pocket and flashed Amu a peek at the leather inside it. She stared at it until he put it back in. "Is that...?"

"After working for awhile you pick up some skills," he said, smiling at her mischievously.

"Give that back!" Amu whispered, but he could see the smile trying to fight its way onto her face.

Nagi looked over at Akuto. "I don't know. I'm kinda enjoying watching him struggle."

"Nagi..." Amu didn't even try to withhold the smile on her face. "Give it back to him!"

Still grinning, Nagi said, "Fine, fine. I'll give it back." Once again checking to see if anyone was looking at him, Nagi slipped the wallet onto the counter behind him. He then turned around and looked at it as if he hadn't noticed it there. "Excuse me sir, but is this the wallet you're looking for?" He held up the leather wallet and had to resist the urge to wave it around in the air tauntingly.

Akuto stared at the wallet for a moment before storming over to Nagi and snatching it from his hand. As he walked away, Nagi asked, "Happy?"

Amu rolled her eyes. "Ecstatic."

But Nagi couldn't help but feel a sense of dread drop into his stomach. Now what would stop him from attacking Amu?

Nagi walked out from behind the counter and walked over to Akuto. "Do you have the money to pay for yesterday?"

"Yes, I do." Akuto handed Nagi a twenty and a five. "I want change."

"Absolutely." When he turned his back to Akuto, he rolled his eyes at Akuto's behavior. Once again, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Hey, bartender! Give me ten beers over here!" Nagi stared in shock at the man who made the request. How many people was he buying for? Because there were only three people there, including himself. He shook his head but proceeded to take out the beers and place them on two trays.

Tucking one dollar and fifty cents under one of the trays, he walked over to Akuto. "Hold this for me for a moment, would you?" Nagi asked as he pushed one of the trays onto Akuto. As he tried to balance the tray, Nagi quickly put the money in the man's pocket and took back the tray before he dropped it. "Thank you."

After passing out the beers, Nagi went back to the bar with the trays. He noticed Amu packing her stuff. "You're leaving?"

Amu nodded. "I've got an interview in the morning, so I can't stay up too late tonight."

Nagi grinned widely. "That's awesome, Amu! Congratulations!"

She blushed but smiled back and replied, "I don't have the job yet."

"What's it for?"

Amu was silent for a moment. Then, she murmured, "It's for a dance school. I'm applying to be a teacher."

Nagi didn't answer.

"I figured that even though I can't dance myself, I might as well help other kids reach their dreams."

Staring at her hopeful yet sad expression, Nagi wanted nothing more at that moment than to hug her tightly and tell her that everything was going to be okay, that she had nothing to worry about. But for some reason, he didn't. It just felt wrong.

Nagi smiled gently at the pinkette. "I wish you all the luck in the world."

She reciprocated the expression. "Thanks. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."

And she walked out the door into the night.

Nagi watched Akuto's back as he walked out behind her, the door shutting silently behind him. There was silence for a moment. Then, suddenly, Nagi heard him scream from outside, "Where the hell are my car keys?!"

Nagi grinned devilishly and continued working, hearing the near-silent _clink! _of the keys that sat in his back pocket.

**DONE! I'm sorry that I'm so unreliable about updating! And that chapter wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be... But I've gotta go. It's getting kinda late. Hope you liked it! Review, fave, follow (even though I don't deserve it)! Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, I know this doesn't even come close to making up for my ridiculously long absence, but I'm going to try to update this story two more times in the next week. Key word being "try", particularly because I'm going to be taking two standardized tests next week. But technicalities. XP XP XP One of the reasons it's taking me so long to update is because I'm trying to decide on the arc I want to do next. Cuz I have an idea that I think might work out well, but I'm not sure about it because I'm nervous something else might come out of it that isn't supposed to come out of it. I'm really sorry! DX DX DX But regardless, on to the story!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 5**

Nagi sat at the small glass table in his seemingly spacious apartment, holding a glass of water that he wasn't drinking. All he could think about was Amu. Amu and Akuto. What Akuto wanted to do to Amu.

He felt so helpless. What could he possibly do to stop Akuto? He could only keep stealing the man's things for so long. Eventually it would stop working. Nagi stared at the ring of keys sitting on the table across from him. This game he was playing was only temporary; it wouldn't last for much longer.

So what could he _do?_

Nagi's grip on the glass tightened until he was sure that it would break.

Finally he remembered what it was like to really connect with someone.

And he was about to lose her because of his own weakness.

* * *

The next night when Nagi was working, he immediately noticed that something was wrong. Amu was sitting in front of him, with her usual glass of water.

But Akuto and his henchmen weren't.

As tempting as it was to believe that they had simply given up on Amu and were just going to leave her alone, he knew that it wouldn't be that simple. It would never be that simple.

"-agi?" Suddenly, a light voice interrupted his thoughts. "Nagi? Nagi, are you okay?"

Nagi's eyes refocused on the girl before him. He blinked rapidly. "Yeah, I'm fine. What were you saying?"

But she didn't respond to his question. Instead, she posed a demanding one of her own. "Okay, I've had enough. What has been wrong with you lately?"

The purple-haired man stared at her in surprise. "What?"

"Did you really think I hadn't noticed? You're different than usual!"

Nagi closed off unintentionally. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Amu harshly put her glass down on the black granite bar. "Don't give me that! You know exactly what I'm talking about! The way you're always so distracted, but you're tensed, like you're just waiting for something bad to happen. Tell me what's wrong!"

He wanted to tell her exactly what was wrong. That there were at least four men out to get her, men that wouldn't give up trying to hunt her down until they got what they wanted-her beaten half to death. But how could he tell her that? How could he tell her that and cause her unnecessary stress? As long as he could fix it on his own, there would be no problem. She didn't even have to know about it. "It's nothing."

Amu's gaze was fiery as she stared straight into my eyes. "Don't give me that! It's something, and it's something bad. Please tell me. I can't do anything to help if I don't know what the problem is!"

_She... Wants to help...? _Nagi couldn't remember the last time someone aside from his two closest friends asked him to confide in them. It nearly knocked Nagi off his feet. But he quickly shook the thought out of his head. It was a sweet gesture, but that wasn't going to change his mind. "I can't tell you."

Amu was all but yelling now. "Can't or won't?!"

Nagi curled his hands into fists. "Both!"

Amu blinked in surprise and leaned away from Nagi a little bit. He hadn't even realized he'd screamed the word until he saw her reaction and a few of the people in the bar turned and stared at him. "Can we just drop the subject please?" he said in a normal tone.

Amu leaned down, her bangs covering her eyes. "I'll do you one better." Amu stood from the bar stool and turned away, walking towards the door. "Goodbye, Nagi. I'll see you later."

Nagi felt a pang in his chest as he watched her walk away. "Amu, please wait-"

"Just... Just give me a few days. I know why you yelled at me. I just... I need some time to get that from my head to my heart." With those words, she bolted for the door, half of the bar watching her as she went.

Nagi stared at the door for a few moments, almost not comprehending what had just happened. He relaxed his hands so they once again laid flat on the bar.

Apparently Akuto didn't have to help him lose Amu.

Nagi was already perfectly capable of doing it himself.

It was then that he noticed the shadow outside the window that darted after Amu, followed immediately by three others. Nagi's muscles tensed as it dawned on him.

Akuto gave up on trying to follow Amu.

Instead, he waited for Amu to come to him.

**Done! Okay, this is a REALLY short chapter, and the next one is going to be short too. I just felt like I should make them two separate chapters rather than one. And since this one is really short, I'm posting it right after I post this one. And I mean it. I'm posting it RIGHT AFTER. As soon as I finish writing it, it's going up. So what do you think? If you don't hate me too much, please review, fave, and/or follow!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6! I'm just gonna go ahead and go right into it, cuz I don't really have anything to say. XP XP XP Hope you like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 6**

_It was then that he noticed the shadow outside the window that darted after Amu, followed immediately by three others. Nagi's muscles tensed as it dawned on him._

_Akuto gave up on trying to follow Amu._

_Instead, he waited for Amu to come to him._

Nagi went completely still. He bowed his head, his bangs covering his eyes. "Everyone, get out," he whispered. But nobody heard him over the racket of the bar. "Everyone, _out! Now!_"

Everyone stared at the bartender in shock. One tipsy man glared at him and slurred, "Ya can't jus tellus to get ou-"

Nagi's responding stare was so deadly it was amazing the man didn't die on the spot. "I _said, _get _out. _And leave the money on the table before you go."

After that, nobody had to be told twice. They all charged out of the bar, all but running over each other along the way. Nagi went right out the employee exit, not even bothering to lock the front door.

He ran toward the direction where the men and Amu seemed to be going. Why did she have to walk to the bar?! Was it too much for her to just drive?!

His eyes scanned his surroundings as he ran, never slowing down. His senses were all on high alert. He had never been so tense before, so sensitive to... Everything.

But even through his panic, Nagi couldn't help but be angry with himself. He'd known. He'd _known. _He'd known that Akuto wouldn't give up so easily. He'd known that it wasn't over.

And yet he'd let his guard down.

And now Amu was in danger because of it.

The three minutes before Nagi found her were the longest three minutes of his life.

"Finally," Akuto growled, his face laced-no, thick with malicious pleasure. "Finally, I've got you alone!"

Amu whirled around at the sound his voice, obviously not having noticed him before. She seemed to lean away from him unconsciously as if sensing his bad intentions. Nagi instinctively hid behind an adjacent building, slowing his breathing, thinking. Calculating.

Nagi had to admit, Akuto had picked the perfect place to launch his attack. No doubt he could've attacked Amu the second she stepped out of the bar, but he instead chose to catch her here. The alley was dark and filthy, the only light coming from the moon and the dim synthetic light of a street lamp three blocks away. The walls were grimy with dirt and other unknown substances, but oddly enough there were no stray objects-no sticks, no empty or broken bottles. Nothing that could be used as a weapon.

And most importantly, it was a five minute sprint to the closest place where anyone might help her.

She was far enough away that no one would hear her screams.

Akuto took a step towards her, and she took one back. Nagi could see her hands trembling. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this. Ever since you embarrassed me like that in front of everyone is the bar, I've been waiting for my chance.

"I've already attacked the guy who helped you." Akuto laughed harshly. "He had to drag himself away when we were done with him. But don't worry. You're a girl. We'll be a little bit nicer to you. We'll let you stumble away. Just don't expect to be able to call 911 after."

Nagi's blood ran cold. He was positive he didn't want to know what that entailed.

He slowly came out from his hiding place behind the wall, silently stalking Akuto.

Amu took a step back, Akuto took one forward. "Wh-what was stopping you before?" Amu's voice was wavering. A step back, a step forward.

Akuto laughed again. "You didn't know? Not as smart as I thought you were." When Amu didn't answer, the smile slid off his face. "You really don't know?"

Amu's voice seemed to get stronger this time, but it was obviously a farce. "What was it?"

Akuto all but growled at her. "Not what. _Who._ It was him."

"Who?" Amu repeated.

"Him. The damn bartender. He's been finding ways to try and keep me away from you. But I finally got you. That damn bartender won't get in my way anymore-"

"You know, I really don't appreciate people calling me derogatory names."

Akuto's breath caught as Nagi wrapped his arm around Akuto's neck. "My name is Nagihiko Fujisaki. Learn it. You'll want to remember the name of the one who knocked you off your feet, won't you?"

"Nagi...hiko..." Amu breathed.

Akuto snarled. "Damn bartender!" He moved to elbow Nagi in the stomach, simultaneously trying to stomp on his foot. Nagi easily evaded the attacks, kicking the back of Akuto's knee and forcing him to the ground.

"Sonofa-!" Akuto's black-haired henchman ran at Nagi in fury, pulling his fist back and letting it fly. He ducked gracefully and threw a punch of his own, hitting home right beneath the man's rib cage. The man fell to his knees, gasping for breath, until he fell face first onto the ground.

When Nagi looked at the third man-a mousy brown-haired man just shorter than himself-he was wearing an expression of shock and something akin to fear. Braving it anyways, he ran at Nagi, fists raised in a cheesy boxing stance that probably wasn't correct. He threw a wild punch, obviously not aiming and just trying to hit something. Without so much as blinking, Nagi diverted the attack and quickly pushed into the man's striking range. The henchman tried to back up, but it was too late; Nagi's fist had already made contact with his chin, sending him flying.

Amu stared at Nagi in silent wonder. He'd taken out three fully grown men in less than a minute. She wouldn't have thought that Nagi-sweet, gentle Nagi-could do this if she hadn't seen it herself.

"Dammit!" Akuto said as he struggled to his feet. He was obviously favoring his right leg-the one Nagi hadn't hit-but his face showed that he was far from finished. "You're gonna pay for that," he growled.

Akuto looked at his fallen underlings who showed no intention to get up-a good decision-but Akuto would have none of that. "Get up, you idiots!" he barked. "We're not done here!"

Unable to defy their leader's order, they both got up. Akuto took off his black leather jacket and threw it on the ground. "Time to get serious."

Nagi stared at the fallen jacket carefully before looking back into Akuto's dark eyes. He smiled at the bigger man deviously. "Ready when you are."

Of course, this only fired him up even more. "Oh, you're gonna get it now!"

All three men ran at Nagi at once, figuring they'd at least have a chance at taking him down. But Nagi didn't even try to hit them.

Instead, he ran at Akuto and dashed under his extended arm.

Akuto and his henchmen barely had time to screech to a halt before they crashing into each other. Akuto slowly turned to Nagi, baring his teeth and growling. "Damn bartender...!"

Nagi picked up the fallen leather jacket before turning back to Akuto. "My name is Nagihiko Fujisaki. Or don't you remember?"

Akuto curled his hands into fists, the skin going white over his knuckles. If this had been a cartoon, steam would have come out of his ears from the sheer level of fury he was obviously experiencing. "You're _dead!_"

Once again, in what was becoming his signature move, Akuto charge toward Nagi. His henchmen didn't follow. _A smart choice, _Nagi thought. But this time, instead of throwing a punch, Akuto leaped forward, arm extended, reaching for Nagi's pale throat.

"_Nagi!_" Amu screamed shrilly.

At the very last second, Nagi smoothly leaned to the side, just out of Akuto's reach, and raised the black jacket in front of Akuto's hand. Unable to stop his motion, Akuto was helpless as his right hand went through the left sleeve of his abandoned jacket. "What?!"

Nagi didn't hesitate as he forced the other sleeve on his left arm, putting it on Akuto backwards. He quickly zipped it up right down the middle of his back. In his current position, Akuto had no chance of unzipping it and releasing himself.

Before Akuto could move to avoid the attack, Nagi planted his foot in the middle of his back, effectively flattening him like a bug. He swiftly removed his own scarlet tie and tied his hands behind his back tightly, tight enough to the point of pain. In his position on the ground, Akuto had no chance of standing up again.

"That looks good." Nagi reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small black phone. He typed in three numbers, waiting only a moment before saying, "Hello, is this the police department? Yes, I have a man here who tried to assault a women. Neither I nor the woman are in any immediate danger, but it would be much appreciated if you would send a squad car out to remove him from the premises. We can wait a little longer if necessary." He was silent for a moment and then smiled, as if the person on the other end of the line could see his face. "Thank you very much, ma'am." He hung up and put the cell back in his pocket.

Without looking over his shoulder, Nagi called to the two remaining men. "Hey. I'm letting you go this time, since you appeared to only be following this man's orders. I won't tell the police that you were here. But let me make one thing clear: if I see you near Amu again, there will be punishment for you. _Severe _punishment." Nagi left what that entailed up to the men's imaginations. "Leave. Now."

They didn't have to be told twice. They were both gone before Nagi could say another word.

Amu and Nagi stood in silence for a moment, neither moving. Deciding it was safe to leave Akuto alone, Nagi walked over to Amu, slowly, almost hesitantly. "Amu? Are you okay?" Realizing that there was no way she was okay after the experience she'd just suffered, he rephrased his sentence. "Did they hurt you anywhere?"

Amu didn't answer. She simply dropped down to her knees, and then to the ground. She had to support herself using her arms. "They were... They tried to..."

Nagi's reply was short. "Yes."

"He said... But he..." Amu looked up at Nagi with tear-filled eyes. "Nagi...?"

He placed one hand over her own. "I know."

The tears grew until Amu could no longer contain them. "Nagi!"

Without warning, Amu jumped onto Nagi, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, her face on his chest. Nagi stared down in shock, but it quickly melted away, replaced with almost a sort of helplessness. He placed one hand on her back and the other arm around her waist, holding her close.

"Shh..." Nagi's voice was hushed, only just audible. "It's okay, Amu... Everything's okay now. You don't have to worry about anything. I'm here for you." Nagi paused. "I will be here for you, whenever you need me."

Amu's grip on him tightened, burying her face in his chest. He ran his hand slowly, comfortingly up and down her back, soothing her. The sirens appeared three minutes later.

Nagi felt Amu tense at the sound. He paused for only a moment, thinking, before saying, "Come with me." He gently pulled her to her feet, not releasing her hands once they were standing.

Tears stained Amu's face and she was sniffling. "Where are we going?"

Nagi bit his lip before answering. "My apartment."

**Finally, I finished this chapter! I'm sorry if the ending was a little anti-climatic. I knew where I was going and where I wanted to end up, but I kinda got a little blurred on the way there, if that makes any sense. Well, that's just about it. Please review, fave, and/or follow, even though I don't deserve it! (Layla, Ivory, and Lena: Yeah, really. Me: So mean. :'( )**


	7. Chapter 7

**... I am a horrible person. It has been FAR too long since I updated this story. I'M SO SORRY! I WAS TRYING TO PLAN WHAT I WAS DOING WITH THE REST OF THE STORY AND THEN I GOT DISTRACTED AND THEN TIME WENT BY REALLY FAST AND I'M SO SORRY! DX DX DX DX DX Okay, I'm going to try to put up as much as possible as soon as possible to try and make up for it. I hope this chapter is okay (it's one of the reasons I've been taking so long). I've been having trouble deciding how exactly to phrase everything/make it go. But I think I'm ready now! So here we go! I'm SO SORRY for the lateness! Hope it is at least half-worth it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 7**

Nagi had said he would bring Amu to his apartment. And he was, without a doubt. Somehow it just didn't seem quite right for him to leave Amu alone tonight, and he could hardly invite himself over to her house.

But he hadn't expected for the drive there to be so quiet.

Amu didn't say a word the entire ride there, letting the incident that had just occurred sink in. And Nagi certainly wasn't going to break the silence. He had nothing to say, and he couldn't exactly talk about the weather. There was nothing he could say that wouldn't sound ridiculously tactless.

It was a relief when they finally got to his place so they could get out of the small space so filled with silence.

Nagi quietly instructed Amu to follow him, gently, as if she would break otherwise. And in a way, he feared that maybe he wasn't so far off. Amu did as she was asked. The lock clicked, sounding almost deafening in the complete silence. Nagi motioned for Amu to enter first and closed the door behind them. The sound seemed to echo through the empty apartment. Nagi made sure not to lock the door so she didn't feel trapped. Both of them were still for a few moments.

Nagi was the first to speak. "Well, this is my apartment. I know it's not much, but it's home." Amu didn't answer. "If you want to sit down, the couch is just around that corner." Nagi pointed to the right at the bend leading to the living room. Once again, no answer. He began walking to the small kitchen. "I'll go make some soup. It'll help warm you up. It was pretty cold outside-"

Nagi." Amu's voice was soft, muted almost. When Nagi turned to look at her, she was rubbing her arms as if cold, slightly folded in on herself. Her golden eyes were on the floor in front of her. She paused before starting again. "Nagi... Why did you bring me here?"

Nagi opened his mouth as if to answer before closing it again, unsure of what he should say. Then he spoke quietly. "I thought that you wouldn't want to be alone after... That incident." Amu snorted almost inaudibly at his description of it. "But if you want, you can always leave. I can bring you home. It's up to you."

For the first time all night, Amu looked Nagi in the eye. Her own eyes were lonely, almost scared. "Then please... Just hold me..."

Nagi stared at her in surprise for a moment before softening. He slowly walked toward her and gently wrapped his arms around her, carefully, as if she were a porcelain doll. He gently stroked her strawberry hair, his other arm around her waist. He could feel a wetness seep through his shirt.

"Let's go to the couch, okay, Amu? That way you can sleep." Nagi released her and led her by the hand to the couch, sitting her down and placing himself next to her. She wordlessly placed her head on his shoulder and her arms around his waist, grasping his shirt as if her life depended on it. She pulled her feet onto the couch into a lying position. As soon as Nagi, draped his arm on her back, her body racked with silent sobs. She didn't see the smile that crossed his face in that moment. Laying a blanket over both of them, he whispered comforting words, rubbing small circles into her back until she fell asleep.

And surprisingly, it didn't take long for him to follow her.

* * *

When Nagi finally woke, Amu was still lying on him, though her grip on him was loosened. His eyes examined her face. She looked so peaceful in that moment. It made his heart melt. He hoped this meant she hadn't suffered any nightmares while he slept.

_Nightmares. Akuto. Bar._

Nagi's eyes widened. _Oh no. The bar. _He'd been so caught up with Amu he'd completely forgotten that he'd left all the money on the tables and hadn't even locked up. His eyes flicked to his watch. 3:30 in the morning. Hopefully this meant that no one would be in the area.

Nagi glanced at Amu once again. It was so early in the morning, so the odds that she would wake up while he was gone were slim. He wouldn't be any more than an hour, maybe two. He'd be back long before she woke up. The trick would be getting up without waking her.

He oh-so-slowly extracted himself from her arms, trying to lower her head just as slowly. It didn't occur to him how odd he must have looked, trying to climb over the arm of a couch while holding the torso and arms of a sleeping girl.

It wasn't until he was completely free and he placed her back on the couch that she arose.

She rubbed sleep out of her dazed eyes and hummed a little. Her half-asleep gaze fell onto the man standing before her. "Nagi?"

He smiled at her, though a little embarrassed that he'd been caught. "Hey, Amu."

She turned her head to the side slightly. "Are you going somewhere?"

Nagi's smile turned slightly awkward. "Yeah. Have to go to the bar."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "So early in the morning?"

Nagi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, last night I technically didn't lock up."

Her expression became even more confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I saw Akuto take off after you... I panicked. I forced everyone there out of the bar, and I didn't lock up. I have to go pick up the money they left, calculate everything, lock the doors and all..."

Amu stared at him in sleepy surprise. "But couldn't you be fired for that?"

Nagi snorted. "They wouldn't dare fire me. Like I said before, there's only one other bartender there, and he's flaky, to say the least. I'm the best they've got." Nagi didn't mention that for something like this, they may actually consider firing him, though the odds of it getting anywhere were minimal.

"Oh." She was silent for a moment.

Nagi smiled gently at her and placed his hand on her head, trying to reassure her. "Go back to sleep. It's early, and you had a long night. You need as much rest as you can get."

Amu was already yawning. "But... What about you...?"

Nagi smiled warmly. "I've got a key. And I'll be back before you wake up, I promise."

Amu yawned again, longer this time. "Okay..."

Nagi leaned over a little, hovering over her before whispering, "Sleep well." He pulled the blanket over her again, tucking her in. She snuggled deep into its warmth. "Night."

He laughed a little before answering. "Night."

Within seconds, she was once again fast asleep. He watched her for a moment, making sure she was sleeping before once again heading for the door, this time locking it behind him.

When he reached the bar, Nagi was relieved to find that his customers didn't think it worth it to steal anything, considering everything seemed to be as he'd left it. He only thought for a moment how fortunate that was before he continued on to do his work.

Just as usual, he counted the money from the day to find that everything added up. He cleared off all the tables, cleaning all the used glasses and throwing the beer bottles into the recycling bin, wiping down the empty tables. Just like he did every night.

But it was all just going through the motions. He couldn't help but wonder why it was that with Amu by his side, he'd slept better than he had in months-no, in years.

He couldn't help but wonder why, when Amu hugged him, he felt so inexplicably warm.

* * *

True to his word, Nagi arrived back at his apartment before Amu woke up. He considered going back to sleep himself, but decided against it, finding he wasn't all that tired. He checked the clock. 5:30. That was enough time for him to make homemade pancakes.

When Amu woke up an hour later, a sweet smell entered her nose, promising hot and amazing food.

Amu sat up and looked to the kitchen. "Nagi?"

The purple-haired man turned away from the stove for a moment to meet her gaze. He smiled at her brightly. "Good morning, Amu. Did you sleep well?"

Amu nodded. "Yeah, very." She didn't mention that she slept better when Nagi was lying beside her than when he'd left. "What's that smell?"

He moved away from the stove for a moment so she could see the skillet. "Pancakes. It seemed like a safe bet that you'd like them."

Before she could stop herself, Amu exclaimed, "With chocolate chips?" She blushed when she heard how utterly childish she'd sounded.

But Nagi just laughed. "If you want." He dug around in a cabinet above his head for a moment before pulling out some chocolate chips. Why he had them offhand, she had no clue, but he wasn't complaining.

As he poured some of the candy into the remaining batter, Amu asked, "So how did everything go at the bar?"

Nagi didn't so much as raise an eye to her. "Okay. Thankfully no one decided to take advantage of the situation. Everything added up correctly. Did you have any dreams?"

She vaguely recalled something about a fire-breathing dragon who was out to destroy a city because they'd made it wear a pink flowery dress, but Amu lied and said, "No, not that I remember. You?"

"Not really." Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. The only sound was the pancakes cooking on the skillet.

"Um... Nagi..." Amu hesitated before continuing. "I'm sorry that you had to come save me. I didn't think Akuto would actually do anything to me. I'm sorry."

Nagi stared at her in surprise. "Oh, no, it's fine. I'm the one who made the choice to go help you. And if I was given the choice again, I'd make the same one. Besides, nothing bad happened. Everything's okay." He turned back to the pancakes and flipped them. "I don't think I ever asked. How did the interview go?"

Amu's eyes widened. "I completely forgot! They said they'd know for sure tonight!"

Nagi put the finished pancakes on a plate before carrying it to the table in the kitchen. "Really? Tonight?"

Amu nodded, standing to go to the table. "I can't believe I forgot!" Amu bit her lip. "Oh no. What if I didn't do well? What if I messed up?"

Nagi quickly walked over to her before holding her hands in his. He looked her deep in the eyes. "Amu, calm down. It'll be okay. I'm sure you did amazing. They'd be lucky to have you."

Amu looked back into his golden-brown eyes that were so sure she did well. It was almost impossible to think that she didn't do well when she was looking in those eyes.

Nagi smiled at her. "Now, are you ready to eat?"

When Amu nodded in response, he released her hands and turned to get two more plates, one for each of them. After placing them on the table, he once again turned, this time to get syrup. "So, do you liked kids?"

Amu blinked. "What?"

"I mean, if you're going to be a teacher, you're going to need to like kids. Or at least be able to tolerate them. Right?"

Amu nodded in understanding, joining him at the table at which he now sat. "I don't love kids, but I want to help them to reach their dreams, for those who want to become dancers. Besides, I'm going to be working more with thirteen-year-olds and older than with the young kids. If I get the job, that it."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get it," Nagi said, more confident in her abilities than she was. "You can take one first."

Amu had almost completely forgotten about the pancakes. "Thank you," she said, smiling at Nagi. She speared one with chocolate chips in it with her fork, placing it on her plate. Nagi also took one off the plate between them.

As soon as the food hit her tongue, her eyes widened. "Oh my god!"

Nagi looked up at her in surprise and concern. "What is it? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just... These are amazing!"

Nagi looked down at the pancakes. He hadn't done anything different than usual. He took a bit himself and was surprised to find that... She was right. Had these pancakes always been that good? He just remembered them being edible.

Then Nagi recalled something he'd been told years ago, when he was just a kid. He couldn't remember who told him, but he remembered the words with perfect clarity.

_"Nothing tastes good when you're alone."_

He'd always thought that it was just a load of nonsense. After all, he'd eaten food without friends plenty of times as a kid, and the food tasted great. But for some reason, he only just realized that "alone" didn't necessarily mean you weren't with another person physically.

Nagi wondered if he finally tasted the food because, for the first time in years, he'd really let someone else into his heart.

**Done! So what did you think? I'M SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT AGAIN! DX DX DX Review, fave, and follow, even though I don't deserve it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so the next chapter. I am going to update every Friday, without fail, unless I am extremely busy, in which case I will update the day before or the day after. Now that I'm on a schedule, I should be able to update much more steadily, rather than with months between chapters. I promise I'll do my best to stick to the schedule! So this is the next chapter. Hope you guys like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 8**

That night was almost unbearable for Nagi.

Amu didn't come because she was waiting for the results of her interview. Which he usually wouldn't mind; she obviously had a life outside of her own. But her absence tonight only made his current mood worse. Apparently, the bar's frequents didn't appreciate the previous night's early closing. And they decided to take it out on him that night.

One man elbowed his drink, making it topple over and shatter on the hard wood floor. He stared at the mess he created. "Aww, I'm sorry." His eyes flicked up to Nagi's. "Pick it up."

Nagi ground his teeth. Considering this was the sixth glass the man had broken, he was seriously close to escorting the man out. Forcefully.

It wasn't just that man. Others would ask for a drink and when Nagi gave it to them, would claim it wasn't what they had ordered, making him waste more than thirty drinks. Nagi was seriously close to strangling someone.

The end of his shift couldn't come soon enough.

He thanked his lucky stars that the other bartender decided to shop up that night, because Nagi was going to lose it if he had to remake another drink.

He hoped that the next day Amu would come, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle a night like that twice in a row without someone holding him back.

Thankfully-for both Nagi and the bar goers-Amu did come to the bar the next night.

"Thank God," Nagi groaned, putting his face in his hands.

Amu cocked her head to the side in confusion. "What?"

Nagi shook his head, removing his hands from his face. "Nothing. I'm just gad to see you."

Amu giggled. "It's good to see you too."

Nagi shook his head. "Anyways, how have you been since I last saw you?"

Amu looked at the ceiling as if searching for words. "Good, I suppose. The dancing school called me last night."

Nagi grinned. He picked up a glass on the counter and began polishing it. "How did it go?"

She smiled back at him. "Well, actually-"

"FUJISAKI!" The front doors slammed open. All the two saw was a streak of reddish-brown before a young man not much older than the two of them-Amu pegged him at twenty-four-all but tackled Nagi.

The newcomer threw his arm around Nagi's shoulders in a strange version of a hug, obviously taking Nagi completely off-guard. He almost dropped the glass he still held on the black granite counter top. "Dude! Where have you been?! It's been so long since we've seen you!"

Amu's heart dropped into her stomach. _We? As in another person like him?_ This man seemed outgoing enough; two would be a nightmare.

Nagi interrupted her thoughts. "I'm always either here or at home. Where have you been looking?"

The brunette gave him a sideways stare. "Are you getting an attitude with me, Fukisaki? I'm gonna have to punish you for that!" Amu watched as he pulled Nagi's head down and-God help her-gave him a noogie. It was then that it truly registered how utterly childlike the man was, almost as if he was stuck in middle school. Nagi didn't do much of anything; he simply accepted it like it happened often. Based on the man's personality, she didn't doubt it.

"Kukai, let him go. You're obviously freaking the poor girl out."

Amu hadn't even noticed the newcomer until he spoke. This one had dark blue hair and eyes to match. He seemed even older than the brunette, somewhere around twenty-seven.

The outgoing guy turned to Amu as if he hadn't seen her. With all his excitement at seeing Nagi, she wouldn't be surprised. "That's right! We haven't even introduced ourselves yet!" He thrust his hand out at Amu as if to shake hers. "The name's Kukai. Kukai Souma."

Amu took his extended hand, dazed by his energy. "Amu Hinamori."

Kukai dropped Amu's hand and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "That guy's Ikuto Tsukiyomi."

Ikuto elbowed Kukai in the side. From the way Kukai flinched, it hadn't exactly been gentle. His gaze returned to Amu. "So obviously I'm Ikuto. And you're Amu?"

Amu nodded in relief, calming down at his normalcy. "Yeah."

He hummed for a moment, looking her up and down as if sizing her up. Then, without even looking away from her, he said, "Why didn't you tell us you knew such a cute girl, Nagi?"

Amu's face turned bright red and Nagi let out a startled cry.

Kukai was quick to answer. "Yeah, and she seems like such a sweetheart, too. Not only are you dodging us, but you're leaving out important information like this? I'm hurt."

The girl in question was shocked beyond words. "I-"

Nagi hit both men's shoulders. Judging from the winces that followed the contact, it hadn't been soft. He stood in front of Amu as if to hide her from them. "Knock it off, you two. And you wonder why I never talked about you."

Amu stared at Nagi's back. "You know these two?" Somehow, they didn't strike Amu as the kind of people he would hang out with.

He glanced at Amu over his shoulder. "Yeah. They're about the closest things to friends I've got."

Kukai pouted and put a hand over his heart. "Now that hurts, Nagi."

Amu's stomach filled with butterflies after finally being able to meet Nagi's friends-or whatever he wanted to call them. "Really? How long have you known each other?"

Before Nagi could respond, Kukai spoke up once again. "A little over a year. But we haven't seen him for a few months."

Amu cocked her head to the side. "Why not?"

Ikuto answered this time. He spoke slowly, as if carefully choosing his words. "We had to... Leave town for awhile. Me and Kukai, that it."

Kukai was quick to add his thoughts. "Let's just say there are a lot of people in pretty high places who aren't too fond of us."

Amu was confused at what he said. Why wouldn't these "people in high places"-whoever they may be-dislike them? They seemed like nice enough people, if a bit strange. That's when it hit her. Nagi hadn't lied; he was usually either here or at his house. So where would he have met Kukai and Ikuto?

"Wait... Are you guys...?"

Ikuto finished for her. "Criminals? Yeah."

Amu was silent for a moment. Nagi tried to interrupt and say they weren't hardcore criminals and they only had minor crimes-a big fat lie, but one he felt was necessary-but Kukai cut him off.

"We're not harsh or cruel criminals though. We're cool. Our reasons are completely justified."

Amu couldn't help but awkwardly stutter her response. "O-oh. I-is that so?"

Nagi opened his mouth to cut Kukai off, but he rammed forward. "Yeah. Do you remember that famous thief from two years back?"

Amu paused for a moment. She did remember one in particular. He stole from major banks, museums, anywhere that had something valuable. And everything he stole was never seen again. But around the same time, letter began arriving on the doorsteps of various orphanages and practically penniless foundations and missions, namely those centered around children. And in each letter was thousands of dollars in cash, and a small note that simply said _Good luck. _It didn't take long for people to make the connection between the two. But no one ever demanded for their money back. Only one bank did that, saying it wasn't the orphanage's money; it was theft. But the negative backlash it received served as an example to all those who followed: unless they wished to receive the same treatment, it was in their best interest to let it go. They called him Black Jack; his actions were dark, taking from those who had, but he served the people, like a jack did the king and queen.

Amu slowly answered, "You mean Black Jack?"

Kukai nodded and grinned deviously. "Yep. That's me."

Amu's eyes widened. "_You're _Black Jack?"

Kukai's grin grew confident, seemingly satisfied with her reaction. It appeared he had misunderstood something. He thought she was speechless from amazement; but in reality, she couldn't speak because of her nausea. It was one thing to know that everyone around you was a criminal. It was quite another to know that you were sitting with Black Jack, the master thief who'd stolen more than ten million dollars in treasures and cash.

Kukai's grin didn't fade. "The one and only."

"B-but I thought they caught Black Jack a year ago!" Amu sputtered.

"A year and three months, actually. Obviously that wasn't actually me. Some idiot got cocky and decided to use my name to try and rob a huge bank. Way above his pay grade. He got caught before he'd even gotten inside the building. Honestly? I'm pretty sure the police know he's not the real Black Jack, but they've turned a blind eye because I stopped stealing. Well, I stopped stealing a lot from individual banks. Now I only steal a few thousand from banks, but I steal more from different places. Looks like nobody's noticed as of yet." He winked at me and stuck his tongue out. "I figured conspicuous probably wasn't a good way to go with my job."

Amu was still stunned. "O-okay then..."

His grin widened. "But Ikuto's even cooler than I am!"

Nagi and Ikuto both tensed at the mention of his name. "Kukai..." Nagi's voice held a warning.

But Kukai kept talking like he hadn't heard him. "You see, Ikuto used to be a business man. Really successful. He was in the upper class by the time he was twenty-three. To be honest, he's been the one supporting us. I'd rather not resort to my tactics unless absolutely necessary. Well, about a year and two months ago-"

Ikuto quickly placed his hand over Kukai's mouth. "Maybe we should share that story another night, Kukai. I think we've freaked her out enough for tonight, don't you?" Kukai glanced at Ikuto's eyes-which currently held a serious threat-before turning to examine Amu's expression. He seemed to notice her pale skin and slightly sick expression for the first time. When Ikuto removed his hand from Kukai's mouth, Kukai slowly said, "Yeah..."

No one spoke for a moment. The only sound was the drunken chatter of the bar goers. Amu took a long gulp of water, knowing she'd have to be the one to break the silence. "Well, that's very interesting. I can certainly say I never expected to meet Black Jack in the flesh."

The three men seemed to let out a sigh of relief. "What do you do for a living, Amu? Probably something a bit more exciting than what we do, I'm sure."

_That's debatable. _Amu turned to Nagi on her stool. "Well, I was actually just about to tell Nagi. So they called me last night. "She paused for a moment. "I got the job!"

Nagi's eyes widened and he grinned widely. "That's amazing, Amu! Congratulations!"

Her smile was just as big as his. "I know! I'm so excited!"

Neither of the noticed the brief flash of surprise that crossed Ikuto's and Kukai's faces, nor the silent conversation they shared with their eyes.

"What job did you get?" Kukai asked, once again turning all his attention to Amu.

Amu turned to face Kukai-trying not to think about _his _job-and explained. "Well, I was a dancer, but I broke my ankle severely. So now I'm teaching young kids how to dance. Maybe I can't dance anymore, but I want to help them."

Kukai raised his eyebrows and whistled. "That sounds like it'll be a little difficult, trying to teach kids how to dance. Especially if they're young."

Amu waved a hand through the air. "Not really. I was in education for awhile in college. Besides, I won't be working with anyone under the age of thirteen. I'm more worried about whther or not I'll get along with my coworkers."

Nagi smiled warmly at her. "I'm sure they will. What's not to like?"

"I hope you're right." Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Then Ikuto spoke.

"I'll take that as my queue. Later, Nagi. Good luck with your job, Amu. Kukai." Just like a loyal dog, Kukai followed right behind him when called.

Nagi saw the unsure look Amu shot them when their backs were turned. "They mean well. They're just a little... Different.."

_That's one thing you can call it._ But Amu assured herself that Nagi wouldn't be close with them if they were bad people.

"When do you start working?"

And just like that, the smile was back. "Tomorrow is my first class. I'm so excited!"

She went on for at least an hour, saying a lot but nothing at all, unable to stop gushing about how excited she was about her job, and how nervous she was, how pleasantly anxious.

But Nagi just let her speak.

He was just happy to see her smiling.

**Done! I'm thinking about, after I finish On the Rocks, making a branch story about Kukai's thieving life before he met Ikuto and Nagi. So what his life was like then, but have it continue till a bit farther into this story. What do you think? Would you guys read that if I wrote it? And how was this chapter? Good, bad, okay? Review, fave and follow!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay! So like I said, I'm going to update every Friday! It's kinda late tonight, I know (I'm sorry!) but I was actually busy today, so this was the earliest I could get to a laptop. I hope you like it though!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 9**

_I'm in a large room._

_The floors are slick and wooden, with scuff marks scattered around. There are mirrors on all the walls, but for some reason my reflection is... thin. Almost not there._

_There's a girl in the room. She has bright pink hair and honey eyes. She looks familiar, but I don't know why. She is standing in the middle of the room and grinning widely at me, so widely that her eyes are closed._

_But her reflection isn't the same. Her reflection is sitting in a ball, her eyes sad and mouth in a line. She looks... Sad. As if thinking sad things. Why is she sad? But why does the real girl look so happy?_

_The girl-both her reflections and the real one-looks at me. "Nagi..."_

_My heart thumps hard. The world around me jolts as if electrocuted. My vision goes black._

* * *

Nagi sat up straight, breathing heavily. His purple bangs were stuck to his face from sweat and he was clutching the blanket on his bed tightly. _Dream. Just a dream. _Nagi swallowed hard, trying to stabilize his breathing and his pounding heart.

Bright sunlight pierced through the window of his small bedroom, making him squint. And yet he looked into the bright sunlight anyways. For some reason unknown to him, that dream terrified him. And yet he felt it held some sort of truth.

"Amu..."

* * *

"Yo, Nagi."

Nagi looked up from the bar he was currently polishing and into a pair of sapphire eyes. "Hey, Ikuto. Where's Kukai? Usually you two are attached at the hip."

Ikuto shrugged. "He thought he saw someone following us. Probably another criminal who wants to get bail in exchange for us. He said to let him take care of it this time."

Nagi cocked his head to the side. "Why? He usually hates doing that." Considering that "taking care of it" was another name for "beat him until he begs for mercy and swears to never let it happen again." It wasn't exactly Kukai's favorite chore. "Does he need to blow off some steam from something?"

Ikuto shook his head and slowly sank into a bar stool. "No, no that. I think he wanted to give us some alone time."

Nagi furrowed his eyebrows. "Why us?"

Ikuto examined Nagi's face for a moment, as if weighing his possible reactions. Then, he sighed. "You see, I wanted to ask you about-"

"I had the BEST time today!"

Before either of them had seen her, Amu had run into the bar, jumped onto the bar next to Ikuto, and started off into a story. "You guys are _never _going to believe what happened today!"

Ikuto's eyebrow twitched, but Nagi doubted Amu noticed. She seemed too excited to notice anything much. "The students that I'm helping are so amazing! I expected most of them to be there because their parents forced them to be there, but actually most of them are seriously interested in dancing! One of my students is actually looking into it as a career path! This is even better than I'd hoped it'd be! I'm so glad that they gave me the job!"

Nagi grinned at her, Ikuto's query forgotten. "What about your coworkers? What're they like?"

"Well, one of them seems to have taken a liking to me. I get the feeling that the other one is going to take some getting used to. She's a bit... Cold. But the other swears that will change after awhile, and that she just takes a bit of warming up to."

Ikuto placed his chin in his hand and if bored. "Is it as good as your old job?"

Amu didn't answer for a moment. "No, but I don't think I'll ever like any job as much as I like that one. This is a pretty close second."

Kukai chose that moment to walk in. "Hey, Ikuto, did you-?" Then he saw Amu and his face fell. "Oh. Hey, Amu. How long have you been here?"

Amu furrowed her eyebrows. "Just a minute. Why?"

Ikuto and Kukai shared a look. Ikuto shook his head once, quickly. A serious air seemed to fall between the two of them. But just as quickly, it was gone. "Well, it's good to see you! How was your job?"

And once again Amu described her day, this time so Kukai could hear it. He seemed almost as excited as her, and he was just listening to her story.

"Did you tell your friends about us?"

Amu stiffened at Kukai's question. Ikuto and Nagi stared at him like he was insane. Why would she tell her new coworkers about them? She was trying to get along with them, not scare them over the hills and through the woods. It took Amu a moment to answer. "No. I was going to wait awhile before talking about you guys. I want to wait until they know me a little better."

Kukai nodded, seemingly unaware of everyone else's current mood. "Well, I'm glad you like it there."

Something flashing outside caught Nagi's eye. He squinted into the darkness, trying to find the source. He was about to look away when he saw it again. His eyes widened.

A knife.

Nagi grimaced. _Not again. _He'd had people come in before and try to hold the place up, make a name for himself as the biggest baddest criminal out there. They never had anything to support their claims of grandeur, but it was a nuisance to have them around for too long. It was easiest to just eliminate the threat before it became one.

"I'll be right back," Nagi mumbled, throwing the towel on the black granite bar. He couldn't help but mutter to himself as he walked out the door.

Nagi squinted into the darkness, trying to make out the figure who'd been there a minute ago. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you unless you try to hurt anyone else. Do yourself a favor and just leave. Go back where you came from. I won't follow you, and no one else knows you're here."

No answer. Nagi gave the man a five count before turning back to the bar.

_Hiss!_

Nagi just barely managed to duck the knife that was thrown straight at his head. It thunked in the wooden door of the bar, quavering at the force. "I see. No such luck, huh?"

Nagi turned back to the darkness, preparing for a fight. "If that's how you want it, then come on."

There was a five second pause before another knife whistled through the air, this one aimed right between Nagi's eyes. He leaned back just fast enough to dodge the oncoming weapon; he felt the wind from the blade waft across his face.

Suddenly, a huge fist grabbed the front of Nagi's shirt and pulled him up. A six-foot-five man held him by the neck of the shirt and pulled a fist back, preparing a punch.

Nagi stomped on the man's toes and elbowed him in the stomach. The man doubled over, out of breath. Nagi grabbed the back of the man's shirt and threw him to the ground, jumping on his back. He wrapped his arm around the man's neck, cutting off his airway.

"Go. Now. I don't want to be forceful with you." Nagi released the man's neck, allowing him a second chance to leave.

The man forced himself to his hands and knees, then to his unsteady feet. The man glared at Nagi and leaped at him.

Nagi swerved out of the way. The man fell face first to the ground again. Nagi planted his foot in the middle of his back. He reached into his back pocket and began typing in three numbers on his cell phone. "Yes, is this the police department?"

The man tensed at Nagi's words. "Hi, I have a man here. He tried to hold a hostage situation just a minute ago-"

The giant clawed his wait out from under Nagi's foot and dashed out into the darkness. Nagi smiled after him. "I apologize, false alarm. Thank you for your time. Have a good night." Nagi stared out in the darkness for a few more moments before turning to walk back inside the bar.

A sudden movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned just in time to see a short lock of brown hair turn the corner of the building before it disappeared.

He stared at the empty space for a moment cautiously before walking slowly back into the bar.

* * *

_"Idiot, why did you run?!"_

_"I... I got scared. I'm fine with attacking someone as long as I get paid, but the police were never part of the equation! Why didn't you tell me he was so strong?!"_

_"He's not _strong. _You're just slow! I oughta turn you in just for being so stupid! If you think I'm paying you now you're wrong."_

_"What?!"_

_"You heard me! You don't do the work, you don't get the pay."_

_"Give me one more chance..."_

_Pause. "Alright. You have one last shot. This is what you have to do."_

**Okay! Done! I don't think this chapter was that good, but I don't know why... What do you think? Good, bad okay? Review, fave, and follow please!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, back again! I'm sorry I missed last week, it was SUPER busy. I had to do summer reading and it wasn't going as fast as I liked. So I had to push back on my update. I'm really sorry! But here's the next chapter. I hope it's worth the wait!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 10**

"Five, six, seven, eight!"

The ballet students leaped into action, each moving smoothly across the wooden floor. For only learning the choreography one week ago, they had a surprisingly firm grasp on it. Of course, they'd only been given roughly thirty seconds of material so far, but to have learned it as well as they had in one week was amazing. Amu counted in fours, keeping time for the girls.

After the twelfth measure, Amu said loudly, "Pause!" According to instruction, the girls all stopped in their positions. Amu walked towards one girl, the youngest of the bunch; she was only twelve years old. She currently stood on the ball of one foot, the other leg in the air behind her. She gently pulled the girl's shoulders back, making her stand proud and tall. "Your back has to be straight. You're supposed to be a bolt of lightning. You're fierce, and you shine brightly. Stand tall to show your pride." The girl nodded before straightening the curve of her back. "Much better.

"Okay, girls, you can stop now! We're done for the day! Just a few comments. Ayame." The girl in question turned to Amu attentively. "Remember, you're stepping back into fourth position and then into a plie, and your arms are gracefully sliding from fourth to second position. And Misa." Misa also looked to Amu. "You are going from a saute into a releve on one foot. Your arms should stay in second position throughout the entire movement. You also need to be sure you keep your back straight. You're intimidating, dangerous and powerful. Show it through your movements." Amu now spoke to the room. "Girls, ballet is telling a story without words. Just like you need to speak clearly to be heard, you need to dance strongly to be understood. You're free to go."

The young dancers walked out of the room, immediately breaking into conversation and laughter. Amu smiled at their backs before reaching for a bottle of water and taking a long drink. Talking so much always made her thirsty.

"Hey, Amu." The pinkette turned to look at the blonde approaching her.

"Utau! How did your music class go? Did they behave today?"

Utau scowled. "Just barely. One kid was acting up at the beginning of class, and he only stopped when I threatened to kick him out of the class. Seriously, it's ridiculous. What about you? What dance routine did you work on?"

"We did the classical piece. It's the harder of the two dances, so I wanted to start practicing it first."

Utau nodded. "I don't know how you keep those girls in check. Why are my students so different?"

Amu smiled and shrugged. "Maybe there's just a fundamental difference between singers and dancers?"

Utau immediately looked offended. "That is not true!"

Amu laughed, the sound like a bell. "I was just kidding! I don't think there's difference. It's just that the girls don't have time to act up. If they miss something because they're talking too much, I don't repeat it for them."

Utau rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say."

"Where's Rima?"

"Her performing arts class ran a little over time today. They were in the middle of a major trick when the clock hit five." Utau shifted all her weight to one leg. "Hey, do you want to go out tonight? I think it's been a long week for all of us. The recital director is being harsh on us, and I think we deserve a break. What do you think?"

Amu smiled apologetically. "Sorry! I'm going out with a friend tonight. He seemed a little uneasy last night, so I want to go check on him."

Utau's eyebrows perked up at the "he" in her statement. "A friend, huh? What are you doing? Seeing a movie? Nice dinner? Visiting at his house?"

Amu blushed at the insinuation. "As if. He's not that kind of friend. He'd never go for me."

Utau grinned. "Are you implying that if he did, then you'd accept?"

"No! Besides, I'm still not completely over _him._"

Utau was silent for a second. "Well, I guess I can let you off the hook for tonight. But this weekend, we are definitely hanging out!"

Amu rolled her eyes. "Okay. Call me with the details. Later!"

Amu picked up her bag in the corner of the room and jogged to her car. She winced when she stepped on it the wrong way and leaned on the gray metal. She took a few deep breaths, trying to control the throbbing pain. After a minute she sat down in the driver's seat, both hands on the wheel. But before she put the key in the ignition, she paused.

Her and Nagi. It was an interesting combination.

* * *

Nagi was making a Bloody Mary when Amu came in.

"Hey, Nagi!" He turned to look at the pinkette. "Hey, Amu. Give me a sec and let me finish this." He didn't want to accidentally get it wrong because he wasn't paying full attention; it would be a pain to have to remake the whole drink, because the customer who ordered it would throw a fit. He'd done it before.

He slid the finished drink to the waiting man, giving him a strictly-business smile, before turning back to Amu. This time his smile was genuine. "It's good to see you, Amu. How have you been? How was work today?"

Nagi thought he saw Amu's eye twitched, but it was gone so fast he couldn't be sure. "It was good. The girls are learning their routine surprisingly quickly. I didn't expect they'd be able to pick it up so fast."

"That's great! What's the song they're dancing to?"

Amu smiled at him mischievously. "It's a secret. You have to come see the performance to know."

Nagi started to polish the bar like he always did when he wasn't busy. "You have a recital?"

She nodded. "Yep. Well, technically it's a recital for the whole school. We have a music program, a dancing program, and a performing arts program. We all share one big recital, and usually our performances overlap. I've seen one of them before. It's really amazing! You'd never guess that these are children and teenagers dancing and singing and performing."

The purple-haired man smiled gently. "Well I'll have to make sure I see it. What's the date?"

Amu paused, thinking. "Well, we don't know exactly what day it is yet, but it's supposed to be two months from now."

Suddenly, a hand came down on Amu's shoulder and she jumped, letting out a small yelp. "What's up, you two? Having fun without us?"

Amu relaxed. "Kukai, you scared me."

He threw his arm around her shoulders and held her tightly to his side. It felt like something an older brother or best friend would do. "Aww, what a scaredy cat. I can't believe something as simple as that scared you."

Nagi's jaw tensed when Kukai brought her close to his side. He had some nerve, hugging Amu out of the blue like that, especially when they didn't know each other very well. But Amu didn't seem too uncomfortable with it. Somehow, this made him tense just a bit more.

"Cool it, Nagi. If you tense up anymore you might break in half." Nagi forced himself to relax before giving Ikuto a dirty look. He smirked at the glance, completely unaffected.

"Hey, Amu, it turns out that Ikuto and I have to talk to Nagi about something in private. So we're going to have to steal him from you for a second. It'll just take a minute, I promise."

Amu knit her eyebrows. "Okay then."

Kukai immediately grabbed Nagi by the wrist and started dragging him towards the employee exit. Ikuto was quick to follow. "What's the big deal?"

Right before they could walk out the door, there was a feminine "Oomf!" and a gruff "Hey!"

The three men stopped before looking back at Amu.

A tall, beefy man, six-foot-five at least, was standing before Amu, his face angry, and she was turned on her bar stool staring at him, an arm holding her stomach as if it was in pain. Nagi tensed. The man from last night.

"You got in my way!" the man growled.

"I was just sitting in this stool. What are you talking about?" Amu looked both confused and offended.

"You know very well what I'm talking about! It was obvious to anyone looking that you pushed out your stool just to make me fall and embarrass myself!"

"I don't understand where you got that idea. It's just not true."

"Why, you!" The man pulled back his fist as if to hit Amu.

_Amu! _Nagi yanked his wrist out of Kukai's hand and darted to block Amu from his blow.

At the sight of Nagi, the giant froze, as if unable to move. "Don't start a fight in here. I'll have to kick you out if you do, and I don't think you want that."

The man swallowed hard, composing himself, before letting his fist fly. Without so much as hesitating, Nagi pushed his fist to the side, narrowly missing his face. The giant lost his balance and stumbled forward, almost falling flat on his face. The bartender swiftly moved to the side, keeping himself between him and Amu.

The man stood straight again and glared at Nagi. He kicked at Nagi's legs, trying to sweep them from under him, but Nagi jumped, once again barely avoiding the hit. But the man took his opportunity.

As soon as Nagi jumped in the air, the attacker gripped the front of his shirt and raised him higher, as if preparing to throw him to the ground. Nagi grabbed at the hand on his shirt, trying to escape his grasp. Amu stared in horror. "Nagi!"

Suddenly, a hand grabbed the giant's wrist, forcing him to stop. Nagi still hung in the air.

Ikuto stared coolly at the bigger man, completely unruffled. "I suggest you let him go and leave. Right now."

The man's fingers loosened on Nagi's shirt. The bartender fell to the ground, just barely managing to land on his feet. But it was as if the giant didn't even notice. His gray eyes were glued to Ikuto's sapphire ones.

The following tension reminded Amu of a wolf backing away from the leader of its pack after it has done something wrong. Ikuto was the Alpha male, and the attacker was the other wolf. It didn't make any sense. When it came down to a fight, it looked like the man would beat him with relative ease. So why did he seem so terrified?

"Y... You're him..." the man stuttered. Ikuto didn't respond. "You... You killed him."

Amu's blood turned to ice at those three words. _"You killed him." _Amu's head slowly turned to Ikuto who had tensed at the words.

"Didn't I say to leave?" Ikuto's words were a low growl. His gaze turned sharp. The man didn't have to be told again. He darted out of the door before anyone could say another word. Ikuto stared at the doors for at least ten seconds after he left before slowly turning back to Nagi, Amu, and Kukai. "Ikuto...?" Amu whispered.

He bowed his head and sighed. "I guess it's time to tell you what I did then."

**Done! So what do you think? Good, bad, weird? Please review/fave/follow! Oh, and no one ever answered. If I wrote a side story regarding Ikuto and Kukai's life before and during the story On the Rocks from their point of view, would you guys read it? Please answer! Unless people cast their vote, then I won't write it. So please take five seconds to say whether you would read it or not, if you don't mind. Thank you for reading! See you next update!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay. Sorry that I couldn't update last week! I just started school again, so... Yeah. But here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 11**

When Amu walked into her apartment later that night, she was in a trance. The door closing was deafening in the emptiness of the room, but Amu hardly noticed. She dropped her keys on the kitchen counter before walking to her bed, plopping down onto it. She stared up at the ceiling, face blank.

_"It's time I told you what I did."_

Amu rolled over and curled into a ball on her side. Ikuto had said that, but he didn't start explaining until five minutes of tension-filled silence.

_Ikuto played with the bourbon on the rocks that Nagi had poured him right after he said he would tell the story. As if he wasn't drunk enough for this. After he downed half of the straight liquor, he began his story._

_"This all happened a few years ago. Roughly three years. At the time I was working as a huge economist. I made people thousands, sometimes even millions of dollars. So my employers paid me well to make sure I didn't leave them. Actually, my salary is what funds Kukai and my travels. Everything was pretty good. From the time I was 23 to when I was 26, I was a millionaire._

_"But obviously, it didn't last."_

_Ikuto breathed in deeply before asking his next question. "Have you ever heard about the Jester?"_

_Amu froze as a chill ran down her spine. _No way. _She was actually talking to...?_

_Ikuto laughed darkly. "It seems that you do. He's the one the Joker was named after. Because it's supposed to be 'so strong it could kill.'" Amu grimaced. Based on her experience, she could understand the reasoning. "So if you knew the Jester, you must know that he killed over forty people within a year."_

_Amu leaned away from him though she tried to avoid it. She really hoped he didn't notice; she was told that serial killers thrived on fear._

_Ikuto looked down into his bourbon with a bitter almost-smile. "Don't freak out too much. I'm not the Jester. I don't like to consider myself a psychopath._

_"I was walking to the office one night-there was a last-minute meeting-and I had to take a shortcut from my apartment to make it on time. Unfortunately, little did I know, that was part of his hunting ground. He saw me and must've taken a liking to me, because he attacked me."_

_Ikuto took a sip of his drink-well, more of a draught than a sip. His sapphire eyes had darkened. "I tried to talk it out with him, as if it would help. I didn't start fighting back until he gave me this." He lifted up the back of his shirt and turned to face away from me. On his mid-back all the way down to the end of his spine was a pale, fading scar-or rather, to Amu's horror, scars._

_After the three years since the attack, they weren't noticeable at a glance. But after a few moments, Amu saw it. The scars' shape had a purpose. On a dead body,it would be obvious in the dark red._

_"Oh my God," Amu whispered as she read the words carved into his back._

Why was three afraid of two?

_Amu mentally finished the joke: because he killed every one._

_Ikuto pulled his shirt down and turned back to face me. "He let his guard down. He must've been admiring his work. I managed to get out from under him and fight him off, but he didn't stop until..." Amu could see Ikuto's fingers trembling on the table. He took another long draught of the bourbon, draining the glass. Without a verbal cue, Nagi refilled his glass._

_"He didn't stop until I killed him."_

_Amu's breath caught._

_"For obvious reasons I didn't go to the meeting. I needed time to realize what had happened. Kukai was actually the one to walk me back to the apartment and stitch me up. Though he looked a bit annoyed that he had to do this for someone who was obviously so terrified of a dead body._

_"The problem was that the police had absolutely no clue who the murderer was, and someone caught sight of Kukai helping me, and I was sitting next to the Jester's dead body. And it's a bit suspicious that a famous thief would help a normal guy, right? So the police were willing to ignore the fact that the Jester didn't have the MO on his body, and that I had looked terrified of a dead body. All they noticed was that after they 'figured out' it was me, I disappeared and the murders stopped. I've been on the run with Kukai ever since."_

_Ikuto's gaze stayed on Amu for a moment as if gauging her reaction to what he said. She hoped he didn't mind what he saw, though she didn't know why._

_Ikuto stared into his liquor briefly before tipping it up and downing it in two gulps. The ice clinked against the glass. He smirked, but Amu thought she saw a dark undertone to it. "The end."_

A shiver ran up Amu's spine at the memory. She couldn't help but let her imagination run away with her as various scenes played out in her mind. A man carving words into Ikuto's back. Screams of pain echoing through a dark alley, and yet no one coming to help. The flash of a silver knife in the moonlight.

Ikuto in a now-messy suit, covered in bright red blood from head to toe, standing before a corpse.

Amu swallowed hard as if trying to swallow the images. To swallow the fear. As if it could possibly make everything okay.

Kukai had quickly tried to change Amu's opinion of the scenario; he kept repeating he'd only done it because it was absolutely necessary, and that it was a justified murder. He even went so far as to say that Ikuto was a hero because who knows how many other people would've been killed before the police caught up with the Jester?

And Amu really did try to see it through that lens. She tried as hard as she could. But she couldn't help but think that no matter what the reasons, no matter what the consequences, Ikuto had killed a man. She couldn't bring herself to be okay with that.

And for no particular reason, she began to sing in a whispered voice.

_"Got a secret, can you keep it?  
Swear this one you'll save.  
Better lock it in your pocket.  
Taking this one to the grave.  
If I show you then I know you won't  
tell what I said,  
'cause you can't keep a secret  
if one of them is dead."_

**Done! I know it's really short, but I didn't want to move into the next event yet. I wanted it to have it's own chapter. So here it is! Oh, and I know the ending song was a bit of an odd choice. What I really wanted was something like, "I'm trying to forgive you/get over it, but I can't bring myself to do it." But I couldn't think of one that worked completely. But regardless. Thank you for reading! Please review/fave/follow!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay! So, I don't actually have anything to say... So I'm just gonna go right into the story. Hope you like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 12**

Amu, against her better judgement, decided to go to the bar the next night.

Honestly, she had no clue why she chose to go; it was a dumb idea. She knew it was a dumb idea. And yet she went anyways. Although, in retrospect, it was probably good that she did, because what followed her arrival would've been a train wreck otherwise.

Amu stood outside the double doors for a good minute, trying to decide if this had been a good decision or not. No one had seen her yet; it was still an option to go back home. No one would know.

But Amu took a deep breath, strengthened her resolve, and walked inside proudly.

Internally, she almost wished that Kukai and Ikuto weren't there. But as soon as she broke through the crowd of tipsy criminals, she saw both of them there, Kukai leaning across the bar and Ikuto standing coolly next to him, both hands in his pockets.

Ikuto was the first to notice me. "Hey."

She couldn't help it. Amu flinched when Ikuto spoke to her. She hoped he accredited it to the way Kukai whirled around and yelled, "Amu!" As soon as he heard her name. From the slight surprise on his face at her movement, she doubted it.

Kukai quickly distracted her when he launched himself at her, throwing his arm around her shoulders like they were old friends. "You're back! How've you been?"

_Since last night? Debating whether coming here was a good idea. I rescind my former judgement._ "I've been pretty good." Amu laughed a little. She hoped it didn't sound too fake. "You just saw me last night. Why are you asking like you haven't seen me in months?"

Kukai's smile faltered, but it was only for a moment. He was quickly back to his excitable self. "No reason. Just wanna make sure you're doing okay."

Amu gave him a look look but then moved on, figuring it wasn't worth the discomfort that would ensue. "Whatever you say." She took a seat at the bar, crossing her legs and leaning on the cold black granite of the counter. Nagi put a glass of water in front of her before looking deep into her honey eyes as if searching for something.

Amu cocked her head to the side. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. It's nothing."

Amu and Nagi stared at each other awkwardly, neither one sure what to do next.

Amu was about to say something-though she had no idea what-when suddenly a woman's voice yelled, "Out of the way! Girls coming through!"

Amu whirled around in her seat, eyes wide with recognition and horror. "No way."

Two blonde heads of hair bobbed through the corwd, all but shoving people out of the way. The taller one groaned.

"Why are there so many people? I can hardly get anywhere!"

"It's a bar. Did you expect it to be empty? Besides, it isn't crowded. You're exaggerating."

"No one asked you. And nothing's crowded to you. You're 4'11". You just duck and weave and you're good."

"Stop exaggerating. I'm 5'1"."

"Utau? Rima?"

The two arguing women finally broke through the mass of people. Utau smirked at the pinkette. "Hey, Amu."

Amu was speechless. Her mouth gaped as if she were trying to say something, but nothing came out.

"If you keep your mouth open like that, you'll catch flies."

She closed her mouth in response before blurting, "What are you _doing _here?!"

"We heard you went out drinking and got our feelings hurt because you didn't invite us," Utau explained, pouting.

Suddenly, someone snorted from behind Amu. "Yeah, right. Why are you really here?"

Amu winced again. _Ikuto_. Utau and Rima stared at him. The pink-haired girl was trying to decide if Ikuto knew she was being sarcastic or if he genuinely thought she was trying to lie to him. Rima stepped closer to Amu and grabbed her shirt protectively, staring at the man warily. He stared back coolly, almost as if bored.

Nagi was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry. Ikuto just really likes to know what's going on around him. At all times. I'm sorry."

Utau gave Ikuto a strange look. "Ir's okay. It's not a big deal." But her wariness of him didn't fade.

"But really, what are you doing here?" Amu questioned. "It's not like you're usual customers."

Utau looked at the ceiling. "Well... You see-"

"We asked around to find out where you always go out at night and managed to find that you come here. So we came here too."

Utau gave Rima a dirty look. "When you put it that way it sounds like we're stalking her."

"Well, since that's half of the definition of a stalker..."

Amu interrupted before Ikuto could finish his sentence. "Why?"

Kukai was the one who answered. "You're here to protect her, right? In case something goes wrong?"

The brunette stood with his arms crossed over his chest and legs slightly spread. He grinned after the newcomers didn't answer. "How cute. Sorry to break it to you, princess, but your protective abilities won't do much against us-"

Without warning, Utau dropped to the ground and kicked her leg in a perfect arc behind his knees, easily sweeping his feet out from under him. He let out a hiss of pain as he fell on his butt.

Utau slowly rose from her position on the floor, staring down at Kukai and assuming his previous pose, jutting out her hip. "You were saying? Something about how I couldn't do much?"

Kukai stared at her wide-eyed, as if he were staring at a goddess-which, Amu had to admit, she kind of was. "Um..."

The blonde smirked, satisfied. Rima seemed to smile a little as well.

Amu's hands felt cold. She had to talk to Nagi.

She leaned over the countertop until she was inches from Nagi's face. "What is _wrong _with them?!" Amu hissed. "Why are they being so... so..." She couldn't come up with a word to describe how they were acting that came even close to the actual actions.

Nagi smiled at the girls over Amu's shoulder, as if to reassure them that everything was fine. "I know, I'm sorry. As soon as they walked in I should've asked Kukai and Ikuto to leave. They're always really suspicious of people they don't know because of..." He glanced at the men in question. "_That._ I don't know how long Ikuto will keep acting like this-hopefully not too long-but..." His eyes fell on Kukai, who was still sitting on the floor, obviously in awe of Utau. "I think you friend just earned a few points with Kukai."

As if on cue, Kukai blurted, "What the hell?" But rather than angry, he sounded... Amazed. Awed. Completely and totally dumbfounded. As if he'd just seen her fight off a rabid tiger instead of knocking him off his feet.

Utau smirked. "I couldn't hear you. What were you saying? Something about my protective abilities...?" Kukai still didn't answer. "Never underestimate the abilities of a dancer, kid."

Rima passed Kukai by and stood next to Amu, looking at Nagi. "And who is this?"

Nagi smiled brightly. Amu almost shielded her eyes; it was blinding. "I'm Nagihiko, but please, call me Nagi." He reached over the bar to shake her hand.

No one expected Rima to say, "I don't like him," and burrow further into Amu's side.

The purple-haired man showed no surprise or emotion from the proclamation. He just retracted his hand, still smiling. "I'm sorry you feel that way."

Amus tepped in front of Nagi, blocking him from view, laughing nervously. "Sorry about those two, they aren't usually like this, they just don't really like strangers-" Amu was rambling. She knew she was. But she couldn't stop talking, for some reason. She felt like she had to explain being with them. "I promise they're decent guys, they aren't normally like this-"

"Amu, slow down," Utau said, surprised by Amu's rant. "It's cool. You don't have to explain your choice in friends to us. We didn't come here to judge them. We're just here because we want to make sure nothing happens to you."

The pink-haired girl blinked. Then again. And again. And then she smiled tenderly. She didn't think she ever felt so cared for. So... Loved.

"Come here, you two," she said, reaching out to hug the two blondes.

Rima was off of her faster than Amu could blink and Utau put both hands before her chest. "No fluffy moments, okay? We're also doing this for ourselves. I've always wanted to say that I beat a guy who's taller than me in a fight." She glanced at Kukai. "He doesn't count, because he wasn't ready for it. Plus I could never say that I beat such a kid without feeling dirty."

Kukai's face turned red and he grumbled something about how he "couldn't hit a girl."

But Amu just laughed.

It had been awhile since she'd been surrounded by friends like this.

**Done! Oh my goodness, it's been forever since I updated this... I'M SO SORRY! School started and as usual, it consumed my life. Plus some... Less than good things have happened lately so my fanfic completely slipped my mind. I'm so sorry! DX DX DX I'm not actually going to ask for you to review, fave, and follow, because I probably don't deserve it. But feel free to do so anyways. XP XP XP Thank you for reading! I'm sorry that it took so long to update!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, I'm back! Sorry about my awful updating habits. These past few weeks have been... Less than good. I had trouble writing the last chapter, actually. But I'm back in business now. So sorry! Here's the next chapter!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 13**

"Five, six, seven, eight!"

Amu hummed the beat of the song in front of her students, the tempo three-quarters of the actual speed.

The girls never ceased to amaze her. The speed with which they picked up the moves was incredible. Most of the classes were spent only working on the finer points, like putting emotion into every step, making the points sharper and the movements more elegant. At the rate the girls were working, there would be three classes of nothing except running through an already-perfect routine, just to fill the time.

"Pause!" All the girls froze in place. Amu walked through the ranks with a critical eye. Everyone looked almost perfect. Except...

"Ayame," Amu said, gently touching the middle of the girl's back. She put her other hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't forget, keep your shoulders back-" Amu gently pulled back the girl's shoulder, the other following by reflex, "-and your chest out proudly." Amu pushed against the girl's back. When she was in perfect position, she released Ayame and said, "I want you to memorize your exact position right now. How it looks, how it feels. Remember it all."

"Yes, sensei."

Amu walked back to her previous position in the front of the room. "Five, six, seven, eight!"

The young dancers continued their routine from the exact measure they'd stopped. Utau walked in ten measures later, leaning against the door frame.

Amu paused the dancers where the theme ended. "Five minute break."

The room was immediately filled with the sound of girls talking a laughing as the walked out. Utau strolled over to Amu with her signature smirk.

"So, interesting friends you have there."

Amu flushed. "Hey, I swear they aren't usually like that-"

"Amu. I'm just kidding." There was a slight chuckle in her voice as she said it.

"Oh." Amu's blush died down a bit.

Utau hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know how they're going to do much good in the way of protection."

Amu's blush returned with a vengeance. "I can take care of myself! I don't need their protection!"

"Maybe not, but if you keep going there, then Rima and I are going to be worried about you constantly."

Somehow, this lack of faith hurt Amu. "There's really no need-"

"Amu." Utau cut the pinkette off. "We're going there with you. Case closed." A mischievous smirk slipped on Utau's face and Amu finally realized Utau's true purpose. It wasn't about protecting Amu; it was about being with her, hanging out somewhere other than the five minutes they got in their studios. It never occurred to her that her coworkers might actually want to be with her, just for fun.

When was the last time that happened for her?

Amu smiled and looked at the ceiling. "If you insist."

"Besides," Utau added, still smirking. "That brunette kid interests me. I want to know if he's really as weak as he seems."

Amu laughed, finding it funny that Utau was talking about Black Jack. "Believe it or not, some of the guys at the bar are actually afraid of him."

Utau gave her a doubtful look. "You've got to be kidding me. _Him?_"

Amu nodded, still smiling. "Yep."

Utau shook her head as if disappointed. "Maybe you could protect yourself, if all of the guys are actually that weak."

As soon as she finished that sentence, the young ballet dancers walked back into the studio, still chatting and laughing. Utau clapped once and began to walk back to her own studio. "I guess I'll see you later, Amu."

Amu grinned. "Bye, Utau."

After Utau was gone for about five seconds, Amu took a deep breath, bringing herself back into dancing mode. "Okay, everybody. From the top!"

* * *

Amu slipped into the bar stool in front of Nagi, smiling at his back. "Hey!"

He turned around quickly, obviously not expecting anyone to speak to him. But as soon as he saw who it was, he smiled brightly. "Hey, Amu."

An awkward silence fell between them as they each smiled, both trying to think of something to say. Nagi spoke first.

"Hey, I really am sorry about last night. I should've known that would happen."

Before he'd even finished speaking, Amu was shaking her head, blowing his words off. "No, it's totally fine. Apparently it didn't freak them out as much as we thought it would. They might actually be coming back tonight."

Kukai was on Amu faster than she could blink. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. His emerald eyes were wide. "Are you serious?" he asked solemnly. "They're really coming back?"

Amu furrowed her eyebrows, obviously confused. "Yeah...?"

Kukai pumped his fist in excitement and yelled, "YES!"

Amu found herself rethinking her opinion on his sanity. "Is there any particular reason why you're so excited?"

Kukai looked like he might explode from the excitement building up in him. "Ever since she left, I've been wanting to fight that blonde again!"

It took a moment for his statement to register, but as soon as it did, alarm filled her chest. _"Utau?!"_

Kukai's eyes sparked with the desire for a competition. "Yeah. I wanna show her that when I'm prepared, I can beat her, easy!"

Amu's eyes widened in fright. "No!" She knew Utau was perfectly capable of defending herself, but against Kukai-against the famous Black Jack? She didn't want to take the chance.

Kukai obviously didn't understand the problem. "Why not?" His tone was confused.

Even Nagi had been shocked by the sudden proclamation. "You're joking, right?" Meanwhile, Ikuto's eyes wandered around the bar, totally carefree. Well, that wasn't completely true; Nagi noticed the barely-there grimace on his face, undoubtedly because he'd heard the girls were coming back, as if it were an offense to him personally.

It took Kukai a minute to get Nagi and Amu's concerns, but the second he did he looked insulted, like one of them had slapped him. "I'm not going to actually hit her! Just spar a little bit!"

This didn't reassure Amu.

Nagi sighed before saying, "I believe you'll try not to, but I'm not sure you won't accidentally."

Kukai's expression of insult got stronger. "I can't believe how little faith you have in me!"

Ikuto patted Kukai's shoulder, suddenly joining the conversation. "It's not that we don't have faith in you. Actually, we have a lot of faith in you. Or rather, your excitability and competitiveness."

Amu could've sworn she saw Kukai blush a little. "So what? I just like competing!"

"Really, kid?"

Kukai jumped at the unexpected voice and whirled around to face the speaker. "What the-?"

"You ready to be defeated again already? I'm impressed." Utau's purple eyes were playful, as was the way she cocked her hip to the side and crossed her arms over her chest.

Kukai's eyes lit up at her challenge. "Yeah right, blondie! There's no way you'll beat me again!"

"Bring it on, kid! And the name's Hoshina. Utau Hoshina." Utau's eyes held a similar fire.

"Kukai Souma. Prepare to see the full extent of my abilities, Hoshina!"

Utau's response was sweet. "Whenever you're ready, Souma."

Amu and Nagi moved simultaneously, Amu lunging for Utau and Nagi for Kukai.

"As much as we would love to see you spar to exhaustion," Nagi said, "maybe today isn't the best day?"

"Or never," Amu added.

"But Amu-"

"But Nagi-"

Ikuto growled in aggravation and jumped in, tired of listening to the argument. "Stop it, both of you. Do it some other time when the rest of us aren't there."

Kukai stared at Ikuto in silence. Utau, on the other hand, was only irritated by Ikuto's command. "Who are you to-?"

Rima grabbed Utau's shirt, staring at her intently. She shook her head once, her gaze sharp. Utau looked up at Ikuto then back at Rima before grumbling, "Fine. But you and me are definitely gonna do this later."

Kukai's eyes lit up again. "Just name the time and place." He looked at the bar before grinning. "But in the meantime, you and me are gonna have a drinking competition. Whoever can finish six beers first!"

Utau didn't even hesitate. "It's on!"

"We'll do nonalcoholic beer though," Kukai said. "We wouldn't want to make you sick."

Utau snorted. "Yeah, right. I could drink you under the table any day. But we probably should keep it nonalcoholic. We wouldn't want you to throw up."

They went back and forth, back and forth as they stormed over to the bar, preparing for their battle. As the sense of impending doom subsided, a giggle built up in her chest. She could already see that this would be a beautiful relationship. One that would undoubtedly be filled with passionate competitions.

Nagi was about to sigh in exasperation at the scene before him when he heard a light, almost musical laugh. He turned to Amu and was slightly surprised to find her smiling brightly and laughing at Kukai and Utau. And for a moment, he just stopped and stared. She looked so happy. He wanted to see her smile that way everyday.

"Amu?"

Amu froze at the distinctly masculine yet feminine voice that called her name. The smile fell off her face as she turned to the blond man behind her.

"Tadase...?"

**Dun dun DUN! Tadase has returned! (Layla: Jerk.) So, now that I'm writing another story at the same time as this one that is time sensitive, I should be more reliable on this story's update. So review, fave, and follow! Please? :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay, chapter 14! Sorry it's a little late at night to be updating this. This chapter took me awhile to write for some reason. But here it is! Hope you like it!**

**On the Rocks**

**Chapter 14**

_"Do you have what you need?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Do you know what you need to do?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Are you prepared?"_

_"... Yes."_

_"No hesitation, you moron! If you hesitate, none of this will work." Silence. "I'll ask again: Are you prepared?"_

_Pause._

_"Yes."_

* * *

_"Tadase...?"_

Amu was totally shell-shocked. She couldn't so much as form a thought, let alone move a muscle or speak.

It took her a few moments to stutter, "H-how did you k-know I would be here t-tonight?"

Tadase smiled as if she'd made his day by just talking to him. "I was worried about you. So I found a way."

Amu was too stunned to focus on the ambiguity of that statement. "Worried?"

"I haven't heard from you for a few weeks, so I was nervous that something was wrong."

"I wonder why," Utau muttered.

Kukai leaned over until he was face-to-face with Utau. "What's wrong with Amu? She looks..."

Nagi knew Kukai didn't want to say how she looked frantic. Desperate.

Tortured.

He wasn't sure what, but something drew Nagi towards Amu, like there was a taut string tying them together. He stepped forward without even thinking about it and laced his fingers with Amu's. He stood beside her, chest out, as if silently saying that he would face this with her.

Amu was nearly crushing his hand from the anxiety, but he didn't care. As long as he could be her strength when she needed it, he didn't care what happened.

Kukai was still trying to get information out of Utau. "What the hell is going on?"

Utau's answer was almost a growl. "Tadase. He's the reason she started coming here in the first place. She lost her job as a dancer because she broke her ankle really badly and couldn't dance anymore. Then her oh-so-loving boyfriend _Tadase_-" Utau spit his name, "-broke up with her and said he was only into her for the money.

"He should've known better than to come here without some sort of bodyguard, because now I'm about to show him who's in charge here." Utau took a step forward, looking like she was about to start a fight with the blonde-Kukai was putting his bet on Utau in that fight-but Kukai quickly put his arm before Utau, stopping her in her tracks.

"Why don't you leave this one to us?" Kukai asked in a this-isn't-a-question manner. He glanced quickly to the left before looking back at Tadase. When Utau turned to see where he was looking, she was met with the stone-cold face of Ikuto. The expression sent a chill up her spine. Maybe it would be best to leave it to them.

Kukai and Ikuto calmly walked over to Tadase, making a protective wall between Nagi and Amu and the blonde.

The usually carefree expression on Kukai's face was gone, replaced with a smirk and a barely-hidden threat. His arms were crossed in front of his chest.

Ikuto, on the other hand, simply had a grim line on his face. One hand was in his pocket while the other hung casually at his side. His chin was high.

The two were the picture of gangsters.

Gangsters out for blood.

Tadase, though, didn't seem scared in the least. In fact, he looked at them as if they were just a nuisance. "Excuse me. I'm trying to have a conversation with Amu. It would be much appreciated if you would move."

Kukai leaned forward a little bit, his smirk taking on a slightly evil undertone. "You see, we've got a bit of a problem with that. We take care of our own. Even from prissy little _pricks_ like you."

Tadase's eyes darkened. "It's nice to hear that you protect those you care about. However, I find it hard to believe you consider Amu 'one of your own.'" He looked down at Nagi and Amu's intertwined hands. "Though maybe it's because of association."

Tadase's eyes moved back up to Amu's golden ones. "Please, Amu. Let me talk to you. Alone."

Amu's grip on Nagi's hand tightened. She felt like she could start crying at any moment. Because as much as she wanted to tell him no, and demand that he leave and never talk to her again, she wanted to say yes, to talk with him privately. To give him another chance.

But as she held onto Nagi's hand tightly, as if he was the only thing that was keep her from running to Tadase, giving him whatever he wanted, she knew that she had to keep holding on.

Nagi felt Amu begin to tremble and when he turned to her, his heart nearly shattered into a million pieces. He could see a tiny hint of the torture that she was experiencing, but she couldn't manage to hide. He released her hand and moved it to the small of her back, gently drawing small circles into her skin.

To Amu, that was enough. It gave her the comfort and strength she needed to not say yes, though she couldn't bring herself to say no.

Ikuto also say the pain in her eyes. And the second he noticed it, a grimace crossed his face. When he turned back to Tadase, the detached expression was gone. In its place was a cold, icy fury.

"I'm going to make a suggestion to you now. Never come back. Never speak to Amu again. Or else I will hunt you down and make you regret every second you spent causing her pain."

Shock coursed through Amu's body like an electric current. Ikuto had practically read her mind. He'd said exactly what she couldn't bring herself to say. Though she certainly would've left out the "hunting out" bit.

_"I will hunt you down and make you regret every second you spent causing her pain."_

A grisly image flashed across Amu's mind. Tadase's body mauled as if by a wild animal. His eyes open, but not seeing. And Ikuto standing over him, blood on his cheek, staining his clothes. Covering his hands.

Amu didn't even think as she screamed, _"No!"_ and jumped on Ikuto, pulling him back as if it would do any good. All she managed was to make him stumble back a step, but it was enough to surprise him.

Ikuto turned to look at Amu, the surprise evident on his face. "What the-?"

And then, he saw the fear on her face.

It only took a moment for him to realize the cause of it.

Amu winced internally. He knew. He knew why she was scared. But Ikuto just closed his eyes and turned away, as if he accepted it.

No, like he expected it.

Tadase didn't seem to notice the silent struggle between them. At least, if he did, he didn't acknowledge it. He just continued trying to talk to Amu. "Amu, please talk to me. It isn't healthy to be around this kind of violence so often. I know what I said to you was cruel. Beyond cruel. It was heartless, soulless. Which is why I'm asking you-no, begging you. Give me another chance.

"I know I don't deserve it," he continued, "but the second I stepped into my apartment that night, I regretted every single thing I said. I won't lie to you. That was the reason I wanted you to be my girlfriend in the first place. But... somewhere along the way, I fell in love. I just didn't know until it was too late and you were gone. Please, Amu. Give me one more chance."

Tadase reached for Amu, as if to hold her hand. Amu cringed away from him as if the outstretched hand was covered in poison. Which, in a sense of the word, it was.

The blonde paused for a moment, noting her flinch, before pulling back. He smiled sadly. "Though I guess I can understand why you would be hesitant to give me another chance. But I can wait."

Tadase gave Amu the most sincere look she'd ever seen. She could almost see the sparkles in the air. "I will wait for as long as you need me to. Please, just think about it."

He held her gaze for a few seconds before closing his eyes, turning around and saying, "I hope to see you again soon, Amu."

And then he walked out the door, leaving the remaining six people tense with no clue what to do next.

It only took five seconds. Amu couldn't hold her emotions in anymore. One silent tear escaped her eye.

Nagi looked at her sympathetically, wishing more than anything that he knew how to make her feel better. He drew her into a tight hug, whispering comforting words in her ear. "It's okay, Amu. It's okay. He's gone."

Utau immediately walked over and rubbed her back. "You don't ever have to see him again if you don't want to. It'll all be okay."

But when Amu replied, "Yeah..." Nagi knew. The problem wasn't that she saw Tadase and it made her cry. It was because she wanted to see him again.

And somehow, this hurt Nagi in a deep part of his heart that he'd forgotten existed.

So no one noticed when Ikuto slipped out the door.

No one saw the stone-cold face he made, or the small glint of sadness in his deep blue eyes.

Kukai was the first to notice his absence. As Amu's tears began to slow to sniffles, he looked around. "Where's Ikuto?"

**Done! I'm sorry it's so late that I posted this. I got distracted. What do you think? Good, bad, okay? Please review, fave, and/or follow!**


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